Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2. Virtual reality technology
VR technology enables users to immerse themselves in an artificial environment simulated
by a computer, with the ability to navigate through the environment and interact with
objects in it. Two keywords in the field of VR are presence and immersion. VR immerses the
user in a simulation so that the user has a sense of being present in the virtual environment.
The degree of immersion depends primarily on the computer hardware used whereas
presence is achieved if the virtual environment causes the user to suspend disbelief and
accept the computer-generated experience as real.
A computer system that generates an artificial world that tricks the user into feeling part of
it would not be a complete definition of VR because it lacks the vital component of
interactivity (Louka & Balducelli, 2001). VR is a highly interactive, computer-based
multimedia environment in which the user becomes the participant in a computer-
generated world (Kim et al., 2000; Onyesolu, 2009a; Onyesolu & Akpado, 2009). It is the
simulation of a real or imagined environment that can be experienced visually in the three
dimensions of width, height, and depth and that may additionally provide an interactive
experience visually in full real-time motion with sound and possibly with tactile and other
forms of feedback. VR is a way for humans to visualize, manipulate and interact with
computers and extremely complex data (Isdale, 1998). It is an artificial environment created
with computer hardware and software and presented to the user in such a way that it
appears and feels like a real environment (Baieier, 1993). VR is a computer-synthesized,
three-dimensional environment in which a plurality of human participants, appropriately
interfaced, may engage and manipulate simulated physical elements in the environment
and, in some forms, may engage and interact with representations of other humans, past,
present or fictional, or with invented creatures. It is a computer-based technology for
simulating visual auditory and other sensory aspects of complex environments (Onyesolu,
2009b). VR incorporates 3D technologies that give a real-life illusion. VR creates a simulation
of real-life situation (Haag et al., 1998). VR is a three-dimensional user interface in which the
user can perform actions and experience their consequences. It is a multidimensional real-
time simulation rather than a linear animation with predefined camera movement.
This is what distinguishes VR from recorded, computer generated, images used in films and
on television and from real-time computer animation where the user is a passive viewer
(Louka & Balducelli, 2001). Unlike pre-rendered images of a 3D environment, the user of a
VR system can usually move around freely in a virtual environment. The manner in which a
user interacts with a virtual environment depends on the hardware and software used
(Louka & Balducelli, 2001). In most cases, an off-the-shelf desktop computer with a 3D
graphics acceleration and appropriate software are all that is necessary. This form of VR is
often called desktop or fishtank VR (Louka & Balducelli, 2001, Onyeslu & Eze, 2011). In a
desktop VR configuration, a 2D pointing device such as a mouse is typically used to select
and manipulate objects, choose menu option, etc. Desktop VR is an effective, relatively
cheap, option. The desktop VR experience can be taken a step further by using a projector
and a large screen to display the virtual environment so that several users can work together
in a meeting room or control centre, with one user controlling the computer. The 2D
pointing device can also be replaced by a 3D input-device, which may improve usability.
Some 3D graphics cards and software support stereoscopic display, enabling users to view
the virtual environment with an enhanced sense of depth using either a desktop display or a
suitable projector. Stereoscopic displays typically require that users wear special glasses.
