To stay in touch with each other even 20 years ago, we had to stay at home and wait for a phone call, which was hanging on the wall or standing on the table. Moreover, sometimes a few months could have passed, to get some news from far away. Now we are living in the outstanding world, where we can find any information with a terrific speed. Many things, which used to be a science fiction, has become true. But some of them are still on their way, like holographic images, for example. Though we already have 3D-world available, but it is not what you got used to see in movies. We are talking about virtual reality and mobile apps development for this sphere. VR has become the most intriguing trend, gains popularity a year by year and promises to bring many industries to a totally new level. So, let’s talk how much real is the rapid evolvement of virtual reality solutions and what we can expect in the nearest future.
Will we all disappear in the virtual world soon?
At this moment, the quality of headsets which let us join the virtual reality has many imperfections. But developers and engineers do a huge work to improve the technology and lower the price. But the idea is not so new, surprisingly. Morton Heilig showed his personal cinema mask in 1960, but got no acknowledgment. In 1968 Ivan Sutherland proposed a helmet which allowed to see objects in 3D with their real size. But those devices got no commercial popularity. The real boom started in 1980th, in the gaming industry, but those helmets were far not perfect and crazily expensive. The grandfather of contemporary VR glasses VFX 1, which vaguely resembled Oculus Rift, was presented in 1995. Its price was around $1500, which finally allowed to dive into the VR world to a wider audience of customers.
Today, we have several types of the VR devices. The premium segment, like Oculus Rift headsets, affordable Google Cardboard and professional, like Microsoft Hololens.
The producers have still so much to work on, starting from ergonomics, the device weight and many side-effects, like a headache, seasickness and some others. With such issues, it’s not so easy yet to get lost in the virtual world. But, the VR headsets can already bring not only the gaming and movie industry to another level. It can contribute to many spheres of our life, like architecture, medicine and basically every industry.
Is VR trend splash a temporary trend or a perspective industry?
VR glasses are not highly in demand yet, but almost every famous electronics producer represents its own VR device on each IT exhibition for the last few years. HTC, Samsung, Sony, Carl Zeiss, Google and many others propose glasses from $15. More and more people become involved: there are over 43 million active VR users worldwide and the number will estimate 171 million according to statista. VR software and hardware market is rising relatively. So what attracts people so much and where can virtual reality be implemented?
Where can VR solutions bring us profit?
By 2020 the software market for virtual reality is predicted to rise up to $24,5b. To join the IT world and be relevant to the latest trends, it’s definitely worth to pay attention to the following spheres within the industry thread.
Entertainment
According to the VR market analysis, the gaming industry will get the half of forecasted revenues. We have already mentioned above, why VR devices got no popularity a few decades ago. But today technologies have all opportunities to give people what they want. As prices for headsets will steadily fall down, the sales will rise and people will have more interest in buying VR software, mobile or desktop. The market will demand more top-notch virtual games. If you are going to make an investment into the virtual reality industry, VR gaming is worth paying attention.
Social Nets
If Mark Zuckerberg buys Oculus, one of the most renowned and successful VR headsets producers, that can promise us another level of communication and entertainment in social nets. Facebook already provides its users with opportunities to watch a 3D video and play VR games. Social nets is another sphere for the VR development you should take into account to move with the time in the IT world.
Engineering and Medicine
Here VR allows to see a wider picture, create vivid interactive solutions. Specialized VR software can contribute to medical virtual atlases creation, which is used in medical universities and invaluable for making prosthetic appliances. Developers can create surgical simulators to help surgeons get ready for complicated and risky surgeries. VR gets a wider usage and surely invaluable in treating phobias, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), various rehabilitations, contributing into a relatively new sphere of medicine, called Cyberpsychology.
Education
Speaking about education, it’s surely very important to involve the newest technologies. Education without IT is no longer relevant nowadays. Here VR may highly raise the interest towards various subjects, make studying easier and more memorable. It is already used for training pilots and teaching doctors. VR has great perspectives in education for children, as long as for getting a highly-qualified occupation. Prosthetics technicians can study anatomy, while small children can train fine motor skills.
Architecture and design
When someone wants to order a new design project of a house or an apartment, it's not always easy to get the overview and imagine the final result. With VR, designers and clients can bring the workflow and cooperation to a higher level.
Tourism
This sphere is one of the clearest and obvious for VR implementation. There are already special mobile apps for traveling and sightseeing. Some of the most renowned are Orbulus, Google Street View, Sculpture and others. A VR application can assist people to create a plan for the future journey. You can look around the places where you plan to go, choose a hotel or an apartment and book it.
E-commerce
With VR, you get an opportunity to have a preview of goods before ordering, staying where you are. It can be anything, starting from choosing and trying on clothes or looking inside a car or a house, which you would like to buy. Surely, it doesn’t mean people will stop having traditional shopping in all spheres at all. But VR can save a lot of time before making the final decision. Need higher sales and conversion? Make a virtual shop!
What are the qualities of a high-quality VR product?
So, you see, how many business opportunities VR gives to big companies and entrepreneurs today. But to be successful, the product which you propose must be of a great quality. To create a competitive product, much highly-skilled job should be done and hundreds of details must be taken into account. And now let’s identify the most important features of a high-quality VR product.
Minimum Latency Level
Low motion-to-photon latency in VR, less than 20ms, makes your mind believe that you are in some other place for real. But the latency of the input headset should be also taken into account to create a highly-optimized product. As a result, it creates the most natural impressions during its usage.
Ergonomics
It is the second important issue in the 3D world. Users have to do at least three things simultaneously while being in the virtual world:
- Orient themselves in the space;
- Communicate with other users and/or manipulate objects;
- Interact with a toolbar of the application itself.
To create a smooth user experience, developers should pay attention to the VR platform’s controllers. Different producers use different devices, like a remote, a joystick, gloves, etc. The peculiarities of a certain device should be taken into account to provide with the best experience.
Users’ Communication
Real-time cooperation of a group of people in the 3D space is one of the most amazing opportunities which VR gives us. To implement this feature, developers must connect the app to one server with a reliable data syncing. Not to make the interaction frustrating, scenarios with the same objects’ manipulation of several users must be carefully planned.
Summary
There are no measures for a perfect VR software and no boundaries to the opportunities, it can give you in the IT business. While the stunning picture is a must, your product can have as many features as you wish, according to your aims. Your users may have an amazing haptic feedback and outstanding physical interaction in your VR product. The only thing you surely need is a team of professionals, who will help you to create a relevant, high-quality software, which will make you prosper and make users fall in love with it!
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About Author
Olga Anoshyna is a Writer at Cleveroad Mobile and Web development company in Ukraine. Our main aim is to help startups, small, and medium businesses create competitive and winning software.
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