Understanding Virtual Reality

Preface

What This Book Is

The aim of this book is to explore the use of virtual reality as a means of sharing information and experiences among people—as a medium of human communication. We have sought to provide a comprehensive overview of the medium of virtual reality, including the technology required to produce the physically immersive effect and the interface design necessary to provide useful and meaningful content.

Research in virtual reality (VR) is turning the corner from being focused primarily on technology to an increasing focus on what can be done using VR—content is now driving the application. The earlier focus on technology wasn’t because researchers lacked interest in what could be done with the emerging medium, but because ...