Book Image

Virtual Reality Blueprints

By : Charles Palmer, John Williamson
Book Image

Virtual Reality Blueprints

By: Charles Palmer, John Williamson

Overview of this book

Are you new to virtual reality? Do you want to create exciting interactive VR applications? There's no need to be daunted by the thought of creating interactive VR applications, it's much easier than you think with this hands-on, project-based guide that will take you through VR development essentials for desktop and mobile-based games and applications. Explore the three top platforms—Cardboard VR, Gear VR, and OculusVR —to design immersive experiences from scratch. You’ll start by understanding the science-fiction roots of virtual reality and then build your first VR experience using Cardboard VR. You'll then delve into user interactions in virtual space for the Google Cardboard then move on to creating a virtual gallery with Gear VR. Then you will learn all about virtual movements, state machines, and spawning while you shoot zombies in the Oculus Rift headset. Next, you'll construct a Carnival Midway, complete with two common games to entertain players. Along the way, you will explore the best practices for VR development, review game design tips, discuss methods for combating motion sickness and identify alternate uses for VR applications
Table of Contents (12 chapters)

Why stop at just sight and sound? – Smell o' Vision and Sensorama

While this generation of VR has not (yet) added the olfactory sense to their set of outputs, this does not mean that older systems have not tried.

Movies tried to add the sense of smell in 1960 with the movie Scent of Mystery. At specific times in the movie, smells were sprayed into the audience. Some theatergoers complained that the smells were overpowering, while others complained they could not smell them at all. But everyone agreed that the movie, even with Elizabeth Taylor, was not worth seeing, and this technology quietly faded away:

Morton Heilig built the Sensorama in 1962. Only a single viewer at a time could experience the short films, but the viewers were exposed to all the senses: Stereoscopic 3D, smells, vibration, wind in the hair, and stereo sound. Today, 4D movies at many major theme parks are its closest relatives.

Heilig did attempt to create a large audience version of his immersive films, which included elements from Sensorama and the Cyclorama. He called this the Telesphere. The large field of view, stereoscopic 3D images, and vibrations were designed to create an immersive experience.