Recreating Visual Reality in Virtuality
Anthony J. Steed · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2013
Abstract A virtual environment (VE) is a 3D model that can be displayed in various media. VEs can be fantastic environments, simulations of imagined places, or they can be models of real environments. A VE is most commonly experienced as a virtual reality: a consistent immersive environment that the user interacts with. Recently forms of mixed reality are emerging where the VE models a real place, and the real and VE are overlapped. An early insight into the issues of mixed reality was provided by Milgram’s reality-virtuality continuum. We critique and update Milgram’s discussion by analyzing how virtual and real spaces can overlap. We place this discussion in the context of content creation pipelines to illustrate how mixed-reality systems are built. Finally we discuss some directions of research that will enable next-generation mixed-reality systems.