AR,VR & MR — Getting Started
Before getting started, let’s dive into the meaning of these three terms one by one :-
AR is the short form for Augmented Reality. As the name suggests, it means putting a digital content in the real world like 3d models, images or even videos.
VR on the other hand stands for virtual reality. Unlike AR, in VR we have a fully immersive experience, where we can go to a place or environment that is completely different from where we are in actually.
MR stands for mixed reality and is somewhat a mixture of AR & VR, where the virtual content can interact with the real world, unlike AR, where it is not so.
So, now we know something about it let’s dive into it and learn about the work which is being done in this fields by research scientists and technologists in companies and organizations around the world.
Virtual Reality
VR came into light first by google, that launched it’s opensource and DIY design of google cardboard. It became popular with people who wanted to experience VR quickly with a relatively cheap DIY device that they can make themselves.
But It was only a cheap prototype, while the actual & well-designed product with a lot of features and software capable of giving wonderful experience was offered first by Facebook acquired Oculus and there are other great products like HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR.
So this was all about the VR Industry, now let’s look into different ways we can experience VR through our smartphone in our hands :-
Google Cardboard
Google cardboard is one of the best and cheapest option that can give you an amazing experience of VR with a few bucks only. The cardboard app available for both IOS and Android devices has a some of the cool demos that you can try.
Youtube VR
The world’s largest video based social platform Youtube also paves the way to Virtual Reality industry. With Youtube VR you can watch videos in a 360 degree view angle. It’s fascinating and an immersive experience to watch videos in this way.
Superman Roller Coaster 360 VR POV Six Flags Fiesta Texas Virtual Reality #rollercoaster — YouTube
Besides this biggies doing experimentation with VR, there are several other apps in play store with this kind of experimentation. Some of them which I find cool enough are : -
- vTime XR : The AR and VR Social Network for Cardboard
- Apollo 15 Moon Landing VR by Thomas Kole
Augmented Reality
Now this was all about VR, which you might have been familiar with already but now I gonna tell you about Augmented Reality, which is just as cool as VR with a real world flavor.
Many startups in USA as well as countries like India, have started building products for AR. The most prominent among them are smart glasses.
What this glasses does is that they can provides any sort of virtual content, which can be mixed with real world objects, to provide additional details in real-time.
So, what you have seen in the Iron man movie will be a reality soon with the addition of holographic view, that will give more power to people and further enhance their digital experience, which otherwise today is only confined to screens of smartphones and laptops.
How can one forget about that cool game made up of AR, Yes! It was Pokemon Go which introduced AR application through a mobile game to the world. They used a location based technology to generate AR content with real world coordinates. Another example of AR are the filters that we use in snapchat and even snapchat has also designed their own range of 3D smart glasses called Spectacles.
So this was all about AR and now again I will give the names of some of the cool applications that I found on play store, trying which, you can get in love with AR quickly.
- ARCore Elements by Google — This application will teach you the fundamentals of augmented reality.
- Video AR — This application will help you play your videos in augmented reality mode.
So. try these applications in a AR supported device (which most of the mid-range modern smartphones are already supported) and see how amazing this experience could be !
Mixed Reality
One of the best examples of MR (but not pocket friendly ;) ) is Hololens by Microsoft. It has the potential to disrupt the education, health and entertainment industry in the consumer market. But due its high price of around 3500 USD, it is currently used and available as an enterprise solution for businesses and factories for building, designing and construction purposes.
Watch out this cool video that demonstrates what Hololens 2 is capable of doing :
HoloLens 2 AR Headset: On Stage Live Demonstration — YouTube
