Times have changed, and these changing times have allowed us to expand our imagination to infinity. You might have never been able to swim on Mars, or walk on Moon two decades before. But today, when technology has taken a drastic turn in drawing the limit between reality and virtuality, you might as well be able to do all those things that once were only a figment of your imagination.
When you’re listening to ambient instrumental music or classical music with your eyes closed, you are transported to a completely different world, and start dreaming about a world that doesn’t really exist. Isn’t that a kind of virtual reality? Losing yourself in your favorite book or movie... isn’t that a kind of virtual reality?
Welcome to the era of extended reality! A reality that incorporates Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality. A reality that lets you experience what you imagine. A reality that lets you be what you imagine. Using high-performance computers and sensory equipment like gloves and headsets, you can now simulate bits of our world or a completely imaginary world.
Extended Reality, or XR, is an umbrella term that incorporates immersive technologies like AR, VR and MR. It is the fusion of real-world interaction with computer-generated images as well as virtual environments. This technology is very popular amongst developers and tech-companies, and various sci-fi movies and films have been incorporating the concept of XR to provide an immersive experience to the audience.
To fully understand the technicalities of XR, we first need to understand the elements of XR technology: -
Augmented Reality (AR): The concept of AR is applied when a rendered image is superimposed on the physical environment. Instead of immersing us in virtual or computer-generated imagery, augmented reality just generates a sense of illusion in digital devices. The users can completely interact in two dimensions and still access the actual world.
The mobile game Pokémon GO is renowned for popularizing augmented reality by displaying computer-generated monsters standing on sidewalks and lawns as players explore their communities. Other applications of AR include the various filters and Avatars on apps like Snapchat and Instagram.
Virtual Reality places users in a virtual setting. Users of VR often put on a headset that immerses them in a virtual environment; they can be standing in a real space one second and then suddenly be in a simulation of that space the next. The majority of the pictures produced are computer-generated, and artificial items are made to appear realistic.
The virtual reality is completely perceptible to the users. Users must utilize specialized VR equipment to enter this setting and get a 360-degree picture of the virtual world. These gadgets are made to offer users an illusion that is very real.
A combination of both AR and VR, Mixed Reality is the space where one can simultaneously interact with the digital and real world. Real and virtual items merge together in a single display while using MR. Users can interact with digital things by moving them around or placing them in the real world in MR environments through a headset, phone, or tablet.
MR can be classified into 2 types-
Mixing virtual objects into the real world: When a person wears a VR headset and observes the actual world through cameras with virtual items seamlessly incorporated into the vision.
Mixing real objects into virtual world: When a participant's camera view is included into the virtual environment, such as when watching a VR gamer play in a virtual environment.
So, these technologies combine together to form Extended Reality. XR allows people to visit worlds that are beyond human control and give them an illusion that they are actually present at that place.
The entertainment sector may gain a lot from XR, just as they are doing with AR and VR. The entertainment sector can come up with innovative and creative ways to use this technology and make money.
Students can search for and select the best institutions and places to study anywhere in the world. Anyone can study anywhere in the world using this technology. Additionally, employing XR, workers and employees can be trained remotely.
Businesses can utilize XR to promote their products and give customers a hands-on experience with them. This may be advantageous because businesses will have to spend less on advertising and may instead give customers first-hand product usage experience.
With the use of XR, it is simple to select the right dwelling, and since there is no need to visit physically, owners can find purchasers from many other regions. In such a case, the role of brokers would be eliminated.
These devices are quite expensive to produce because a lot of hardware and many technologies are combined to create them. Investors would not be encouraged to put money into XR if the cost were higher because the general public might not be able to utilize the product and companies creating it would not be able to boost their sales.
Many private facts may be necessary to establish a user-rich environment since XR devices are required to generate an environment according to the user requirement. The expense of storing such data can be high for the business, and users may be concerned about their privacy.
Entering the world of XR, the possibilities are virtually endless. User interaction is a completely new field, and we still have a lot to learn. Although it's become second nature for people to touch or click on icons or blue links, research into how we interact with virtual objects is still ongoing.
Therefore, there is no one "correct" strategy to use XR in your company right now. However, there is a big chance to make a hugely beneficial influence for those who are prepared to get in and apply their in-depth understanding of their clients and users.
Advist Global has a professional team of consultants that help you bring your XR project to life. Be it any advice regarding the way you want to present your project through XR, or the website development, or the illustration designs, Advist Global provides you with end-to-end solutions, all under one roof.
Founder and CEO of Advist Global, one of India’s finest Creative Agency, started career as a photographer at the young age of 15. After completing engineering, passion for arts and experience of tech led to set the foundation of Advist Global, specializing in WEB 3 solutions, NFT arts, UX/UI and much more.
