A PAPER ON

VIRTUAL REALITY

By

Y.S.R ENGINEERING COLLEGE OF

YOGI VEMANA UNIVERSITY
PRODDATUR-516360 Y.S.R (Dt.)
Ph:08564-254770, 254771 (F)

V.MANOJ KUMAR

BTECH 4rd Year

Computer Science Branch

Mail id: manoj8657@gmail.com

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ABSTRACT

Virtual Reality (VR), sometimes called Virtual

Environments (VE) has drawn much attention in the last few
years. The Virtual Reality uses a huge number of technologies
to produce a Virtual world so that a user can interact and
manipulate with the virtual objects in the so produced Virtual
Worlds. With the aid of some specially developed gadgets
like a Head Mounted Display, Electronic Glove and
Mechanical armatures that fit the human organs we can
immerse the human into the Virtual world. The simulation
technique is combined with the motion of the human to
produce the output that what human expects for. For example
the person in a Virtual world looks at a particular object then
he has to get the feeling that he is actually looking at that
object and he should also get the feeling of the sounds that
come from that object. In this paper a historical overview of
virtual reality is presented, types, architecture of VR systems
are listed, followed by applications of this technology in
science, work, and entertainment areas. Finally, the future of
VR is considered.

INTRODUCTION
“Virtual Reality is a way for humans to visualize,
manipulate and interact with computers and extremely
complex data”.
Here the word visualization refers to the computer-
generated outputs such as computer graphics, simulations, and
other such as the CAD models. Here the outputs may be
animations that can be controlled easily by scripts. Here the

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human can directly interact and manipulate with these

animations.
The most difficult thing in the Virtual Reality is to
produce the interaction between Virtual world and the human
but not the production of the Virtual world. The type of
Virtual Reality in which the human is actually immersed into
the Virtual world is called the immersive Virtual Reality. In
such a type of Virtual Reality the human is completely
isolated from the outside world and he is placed an entirely
computer generated world.
The applications being developed for Virtual
Reality are wide range utilities. Among them the real time
applications occupy the prominent place.

History OF VR :
Nowadays computer graphics is used in many
domains of our life. The thought of virtual reality has been
around since 1965, when Ivan Sutherland expressed his ideas
of creating virtual or imaginary worlds. At MIT, he conducted
experiments with three dimensional displays. In 1969, he
developed the first system to surround people in three
dimensional displays of information. Between the '70's and
late '80's, the concept of virtual reality was mainly used by the
United States. The military used it as flight simulators to train
pilots. The other countries in the world did not show any
interest in this technology until the late 1980's. Since then,
virtual reality has developed in many ways to become an
emerging technology of our time.

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Types of Virtual Reality Systems

There are different types of Virtual Reality systems are:
(a) Immersive Systems
The highest priority is being given to the immersive
systems. As we have already mentioned the immersive
systems rules out the entire real world and places the human
in a completely computer generated animation world.
(b) Window on World (WoW)
It is a normal Virtual world that has been developed
on a desktop PC. The most common form of the WoW are
computer games that uses 3d simulation of the real worlds.
Here the user has to peep into the Virtual world using a
monitor placed on his desktop.
(c) Video Mapping
This is a technique used to map the motion of a human
using special electronic device like cameras. Here the input to
the computer is the motion of the human and the output is the
2d graphical image of the human showing his human.
(d) Tele presence
This is another technique in Virtual Reality where
we use some remote sensors placed some where in the Virtual

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world that maps the human actions and correlates them to the
actions that has to be done by the objects in the Virtual world.
This type of Virtual Reality is being used by the fire fighters
in some critical conditions. Special Robots fixed with this
type of sensors help them a lot.

(e) Mixed Reality

This is a technique combining the Virtual Reality
systems and the telepresence. Here the inputs to both the
telepresence and Virtual Reality systems are fed as inputs.
The fighters see the maps generated by the computers and
correlate them with the data available with them. The
surgeons correlate the images taken by the CAT scans and the
ones taken by the computers.

Technologies of VR :
After a deep study of this emerging technology, we have
classified Virtual Reality into three types. They are as
follows:
1. Virtual Reality using Hardware
There is a number of hardware developed for the
usage by Virtual Reality. Among them some are explained
below.
1.1 Head Mounted Display

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The Head mounted display consists of two miniature

display screens that produce the stereo scopic images and an
optical position tracking system that tracks the orientation of
the humans head in the Virtual world and that produces the
impulse to the image generating computer. The image-
generating computer produces the respective view
corresponding to the orientation of the user head in the Virtual
world. This is the basic device used in the IVR. As a result the
user can see in the direction that he wants and he can walk
through the Virtual world.

1.2 Boom and Cave

To overcome the intrusiveness with the HMD the
Boom and Cave are used. These are also extensively used in
the IVR.
Screens and stereo scopic image generating apparatus
are fixed in a box, which is attached to a multi link arm. The
user peeps into the Virtual world through two holes, and
controls his motions with the arms.

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The Cave is an interesting topic in IVR. A cave

consists of a cube shaped room. The stereo scopic images are
projected on to the walls and the floor of the room with the
help of a number of projectors. The head tracking system
worn by the leading user controls the view of the Virtual
world. Several users may sit on the Virtual world at a time.
In the figure we can see the Cave Automatic Virtual
Environment (CAVE)

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2. Virtual Reality using software

The most commonly used tools for developing 3d
worlds are VRML v1.0, VRML97, VRML v2.0, 3d Studio
max, Rhino3d, Amapi3d, ALICE99, BLENDER and other
such software. The VRMLv1.0 is the child language
developed from the XML family. There aren’t many
differences between the later versions of VRML (VRML97
and VRML v2.0). The programming paradigms are entirely
different from VRMLv1.0 to VRMLv2.0. There are many
companies dedicated to develop the tools for creating virtual
worlds, such as Parallel Graphics Co., and Trapezium Co.,.
Also there are many concepts of developing the virtual worlds
using the software.
They are:
2.1 Rendering
In this we are conscious about the rendering
techniques. Here we use the technique of wire framing. A
sample output and its wire frame model are shown below.
After developing the wire frame model what we have to do is
simply to apply the texture to it. This is called texturing. The
texture applied can be a photograph or any predefined
textures such as metal, rock, wood and cement flooring.

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2.2 Programming
The other tool available for developing the virtual worlds
is by programming. There are many programming languages
by which we can develop the virtual worlds. The best one we
prefer is by using VRML v2.0. Prior to this language, people
used to develop the virtual worlds using the traditional
programming language, JAVA. As we have mentioned earlier
VRML is a language born from the family of XML. VRML is
Virtual Reality Modeling Language. VRML v2.0 is more
advanced compared to the version 2.0.
ARCHITECTURE OF VR SYSTEM

Components of VR System :
(a) Input Processor,
(b) Simulation Processor,
(c) Rendering Processor and
(d) World Database
(a) Input Processor

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-Control the devices used to input information to the

computer. The object is to get the coordinate data to the rest
of the system with minimal lag time.
-Keyboard, mouse, 3D position trackers, a voice recognition
system, etc.
(b) Simulation Processor
-Core of a VR system.
-Takes the user inputs along with any tasks programmed into
the world and determine the actions that will take place in the
virtual world.

(c) Rendering Processor

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-Create the sensations that inhabit the world,

are output to the user.
-Separate rendering
processes are used for
visual, auditory, haptic and
other sensory systems.
Each renderer take a
description of the world
stat from the simulation
process or derive it directly
from the World Database
for each time step. scripts that describe

(d) World Database: actions of those

Store the objects that objects.

APPLICATIONS
Real Time Applications of Virtual Reality:

The applications being developed for Virtual Reality run over

a wide spectrum from 3d games to architectural planning of
buildings. The applications may be scientific and technical
that can not be viewed in actual life. The flexibility of the
Virtual Reality makes it use in the scientific applications like
architectural planning, rocket launching, war strategies,
cockpit simulation, robotics and medical related applications.
1. Virtual Reality in war strategies
SIMNET is the first war related Virtual Reality
application. This project is standardization being pushed by
the USA Defense Department to enable diverse simulators to
be interconnected into a vast network. The soldiers can be
trained to the war by developing a Virtual world that looks

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exactly the war field. This helps them in knowing how to deal
in war fields. Distributed Interactive System (DIS) protocol
has been developed by the Orlando Institute of Training and
Simulation, which is the future of Virtual Reality in war
strategies.

2. Virtual Reality place guide the robots.

in medical They guide the robots with
Virtual Reality is the help of multi-link arms
now being used to train
physicians to carry out
intricate surgical
procedures such as
laparoscopies,
arthroscopies, endoscopies
and other minimally
invasive surgeries.
Nano surgery is
another medical
application, where the that we have already seen
doctors located at a distinct in the case of booms.
3. Virtual Reality
in designing
aspects
Virtual Reality
helps in designing the
virtual models of the
certain objects. By
building the virtual models
we can see how the model
works, what the defects

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may be and how we can conceptual cars. Concept

overcome the previous cars are being designed to
defects. These all can not study new ideas. Most of
be seen by actually these designs are never
developing the model as it built. Virtual reality
includes a lot of cost and provides a tool for
laborious time. This evaluating such designs in
concept of Virtual Reality full scale without building
is being is mostly used in time consuming and costly
the designing of physical prototypes.

4. Virtual Reality in amusement parks

Virtual Reality is also playing a vital role in the
amusement parks. The conceptual cars that we have discussed
above and the racing games are being developed to attract
people. With the help of electronic gloves, head-mounted
displays and stereo scopic vision racing games attract the
people.
5. Virtual Reality in web development.
6. Virtual Reality in cockpit simulation
7. Virtual Reality and Cryptography
Future of Virtual Reality
Yesterday Virtual Reality was a science fiction
fantasy. Today it is a research topic in laboratories and
amusement parks. Tomorrow it will certainly replace our
televisions and computers. There are already a lot of
organizations deemed towards the development of the Virtual
Reality. Many researches are being done to find more and
more applications of Virtual Reality. In the forth coming days
the web sites developed using Virtual Reality will replace the
entire present web industry. Even a virtual Jurassic Park may

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be developed in USA in a short span of days. Let’s hope for a

bright future of this emerging technology.

CONCLUSION:
The technology is being developed rapidly and shows
considerable potential. The ability of Virtual Reality to
produce realistic worlds of data, objects and environments,
with which the users can interact and manipulate in a realistic
and an intuitive manner, opens up a vast wealth of
possibilities for work-related applications. The concept of
Virtual Reality provides an innovative mix of entertainment,
education and State-of-Art. Virtual reality technology will
transport guests to different worlds. From waterbeds to
gyroscopes and hydraulic units, a variety of platforms will
provide a new kind of travel; into Cyberspace; into virtual
worlds where one can swim with the dolphins and experience
intense sensory stimulation. As movement of people is
becoming more and more costly with time, the scope of
Virtual Reality is growing. Working in many fields like
medicine, rocket launching, massive constructions, it is very
important to be more precise and accurate and here Virtual
Reality provides a solution by providing a platform which
makes it possible by using the applications of Virtual Reality.

Reference
 VIRTUAL REALITY -
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/Tate.VR.html

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 Evolution of Virtual Reality - http://www-

ec.njit.edu/~gdb1498/Portfolio/CIS350TermPa
per2.html
 History of VR -
http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~cohen/VW2000/Lectu
res/History.color.pdf
 Virtual Reality – History -
http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/VETopLe
vels/VR.History.html

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