Virtual Reality !
Ever wondered how a black hole would look like ? If yes, great.
But ever wondered how it would feel like to fall in it ? Obviously no, unless and until you tried to figure it out !
Even if you ever imagined, still you must hadn’t felt how it feels to fall in there. I would still consider myself lucky that I had such an experience, whilst sitting on a cubicle chair. Wondering how ?
It’s all the magic of the amazing world full of realities. I mean to say, its all possible due to the world of Virtual Reality, where everything is possible. Be it a space, or a rollercoaster ride, or a world full of horror, one can experience the thrill of everything, all at once, all credits to the AR and VR world.
You must be wondering what is VR or AR if you are from a non technical background. Even if so, most probably people are known of these terms, because this technology is itself known worldwide.
Virtual reality is a computer generated simulation of an environment that can be interacted within a real or a physical way by a person using a special equipment such as a headset with a screen embedded in it or a hand controller that helps to interact.
In simple non-technical words, VR is a technology that enables the users to experience the realistic world without being actually in it. AR, on the other hand simulates a model into the real world which can actually provide a composite view.
Mixed reality is the fusion of VR and AR altogether wherein the advantages of AR and VR both are incorporated in a single environment. Apart from these, there are other dimensions of VR, such as XR etc. WebVR platform too is developed for making VR scenarios accessible in a website.
Okay, so to be honest I didn’t knew much of VR till January ’19, but when I came across the problem statement of a furniture manufacturing company, i.e. Pepperfry during Smart India Hackathon 2019, it intrigued me. The problem statement was to make augmented models for the furniture that can be used for making tutorials which could make the people understand the assembling process of furniture.
I didn’t had enough skill set to make all those things and to render it in a 3D environment. But when I came across the google form that mentioned internship for VR, I couldn’t resist but apply for it. And that’s how I came to know of Sastra Deemed University and Sastra TBI, which laid forth the foundation of my VR journey.
The best thing about VR is that it’s applications are multidimensional. One may think that the scope of VR is only till the boundaries of Gaming and entertainment, but instead VR has its roots in almost every field, if one has a vision to do something, he/she can.
Be it biomedical, gaming, interior design, face mesh wrapping, shopping .etc, VR has played its vital role in every field. Examples such as Human Anatomical study, Pokemon GO, Furlenco. , Snapchat, Lenskart. etc are some of the best successful examples which employs the VR and AR, all in a nutshell.
The best thing about seeking an internship in Sastra TBI is that they have the sort of environment which one hopes for. Be it the fully rigged workstation, or a high performance Oculus Rift system, or a functional laboratory, everything is present in here.
We, the students of VR lab were assigned the task to work up on themes such as interior designing, VR pranks, heritage tourism using VR, Human Anatomy using VR and AR based furniture mapping. These five problem statements were distributed among 5 groups which are currently working up on it.
I, along with two group mates received the task of making VR Prank games wherein we are incorporating Horror Prank and Richie’s Plank. Almost 70% of work is covered but we are still looking up for more. During its implementation, we tried to understand and realize what are the problems one can face whilst being in a prank environment first, by putting ourselves in their shoes and then started working up on it to make things more realistic.
This project focuses on bringing new people who have never experienced VR experience the feel of it. And it’s thrilling to work up on it, too.
VR is more about user than the environment. The environment changes as per the user and vice versa, and also the developer has to take the co-ordination between them in check. Moreover, as much as I realized and understood, VR is much about physics concepts and creativity.
No matter what, VR is the technology that can influence so many lives in a way one can’t think of. And to be frank, it’ll grow rapidly as more and more people are exploring it’s domains.
And I feel more than lucky to be working up on it.
