Bud and development of virtual reality

The development of virtual reality technology can be roughly divided into four stages< /span>

From 2016, as consumers Versions of Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStationVR has been released one after another, and virtual reality has truly begun to enter the ordinary The family of people brings us a brand new audiovisual and gaming experience.

There is a witty saying in “Zhuangzi·Qiwulun”: “The former Zhuang Zhoumeng is Hu Die, and Hu Die is vivid.

I don’t know what to say Zhou Ye. Suddenly feel that Zhou is awkward. I don’t know Zhou’s dream is Hu Die and Hu? Hu The dream of a butterfly is Zhou Yu? Zhou and Hu Die must have their own distinctions. This is called materialization.” More than two thousand years ago, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he became a butterfly. Zhuang Zhou who became a butterfly is not only vivid and lifelike, but also very happy and happy. Be comfortable, forget that you are Zhuang Zhou. After waking up, he realized that he was Zhuang Zhou in a panic. I wonder if Zhuang Zhou became a butterfly in his dream, or did the butterfly become Zhuang Zhou in his dream? There must be a difference between Zhuang Zhou and Butterfly. This is called the intersection and change of things and self. More than two thousand years ago, Zhuang Zhou was thinking about whether the butterfly dreamed of him or did he dream of the butterfly. Which is virtual and which is reality?

Hundreds of years ago, Descartes also tried to explore the “absolute truth” above the senses and scientific theory.real”. In the end, he discovered that the “truth” that humans perceive can be reasonably questioned, and only thinking is the only certain existence, that is, “I think, therefore I am.” In the final analysis, virtual reality is derived from human thinking and imagination. The brain constructs a world with the information it receives. This is the essence of virtual reality.

In ancient China, there are two idioms that can explain virtual reality well: Huang Liang Yi Meng and Nan Ke Yi Meng. Huang Liang Yimeng is from the “Pillow in the Pillow” by Shen Jiji of the Tang Dynasty, which tells the story of Tang Kaiyuan In the seventh year (AD 719), a young man named Lu Sheng was depressed, with only coarse cloth short clothes on his body, and living in distress. One day, he met Lu Weng, a Taoist priest with celestial skills, in a hotel in Handan, and Lu Sheng had a very happy conversation with him. While speaking, Lu Sheng sighed that he was unconscious in the world. Although he studied hard when he was young, he was already a mature man before his fame. Lu Sheng was a little tired, so Taoist Lu Weng took out a pillow for him to sleep on, while the owner was steaming yellow rice with rice. Lu Sheng leaned on the pillow. The pillow was made of cyan porcelain with holes at both ends. Lu Sheng turned his head to sleep on the pillow, and saw that the hole gradually became larger, brighter and brighter, and Lu Sheng followed the light. Went in and returned home unexpectedly. A few months later, he married a woman from the Qinghe Cui family as his wife. In the following year, Lu Sheng was awarded a Jinshi in the imperial examination. His five children are high-ranking officials, and their relatives are also well-known families. In the end, Lu Sheng was full of children and grandchildren, enjoying full glory and wealth. At the age of 80, Lu Sheng fell ill for a long time and eventually died of illness. At the moment of death, Lu Sheng woke up, only to find that his body was still sleeping in the hotel, Lu Weng was sitting beside him, and the yellow beam rice steamed by the owner was not yet cooked. Nanke Yimeng is also about a long dream, but it is far from true and detailed as Huang Liangyimeng narrates. The celadon pillow in Huang Liangyi’s dream can be regarded as a virtual reality device, which took Lu Sheng into a virtual world, allowing Lu Sheng to experience a completely different life there.

Virtual reality is the same as many scientific research technologies, and its concept has also appeared in many science fiction novels and science fictionIn the movie, many current technological concepts can be found prototypes in the imagination of science fiction writers. The time goes back to around 1935. The science fiction novelist Stanley Weinbaum published a short story “Pygmalion’s Glasses”. In the novel, the Elf professor invented a pair of glasses. After wearing this pair of glasses, You can enter the movie, see, hear, taste, smell and touch anything in the movie. You can also interact with the characters in the story. The “glasses” described by Weinbaum is the original description of “virtual reality”. The device in the novel that is based on glasses and involves a full range of immersive experiences such as vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch, etc., is still very advanced. This novel is also considered the first science fiction to mention VR.

In 1956, American photographer Morton Heilig invented a machine called Sensorama’s machine

This machine has a three-dimensional display and stereo effect, as well as vibration and blowing. Morton Heilig also applied for a patent for a mobile device that provides a virtual reality experience in 1960. This patent is very close to contemporary virtual reality headsets, but there is no product prototype.

In 1965, Professor Ivan Sutherland published the title “The UltimateDisplay (final display)” paper, put forward the theory of human-computer writing of perception and interaction. Ivan Suzelan is an outstanding computer scientist. The Sketchpad he invented in 1962 was the first system that can directly construct graphics and images on the display screen. In 1968, Ivan Sutherland and his student Bob Sprull designed the first virtual reality headset: The Sword of Damocles, known as the Sword of Damocles,

This head-mounted display is the first device with a computer graphics-driven head-mounted display and head tracking system. His first application is a cube floating in the air. This invention has become an important milestone in the history of virtual reality. Based on his contributions to graphical reality and tracking interaction, the author of this prototype, Ivan Suzelan, is also known as the father of computer graphics and virtual reality.

In 1966, MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the United States developed the The first head-mounted display, and then the feedback device was added to the system. In 1970, MIT Lincoln Laboratory developed a more fully functional head-mounted display system.

In 1973, Myron Krurger proposed the concept of “Artificial Reality”, which was the earliest releaseThe current word for virtual reality, literally, it already has the meaning of virtual reality. The period between 1956 and 1973 was the embryonic stage of virtual reality technology, but during this period, no one proposed a complete concept of virtual reality, and virtual reality is still in the exploratory stage.

In 1978, Eric Howlett invented LEEP (The Large Expanse, Extra Perspective), This is a super-large viewing angle stereoscopic imaging system, which corrects as much as possible the distortion that may occur when the viewing angle is enlarged.

In 1984, Jaron Lanier, the pioneer of VR, established a company specializing in VR, VPLResearch, and has successively launched VR gloves Data Glove, virtual reality headset Eye Phone, surround sound system AudioSphere, 3D engine Issac, VR operating system Body Electric. However, VPL eventually went bankrupt in 1990.

In 1989, Eric Howlett saw the high price of VPL Research’s consumer-oriented headsetsUp to 10,000 US dollars, so I also tried to launch my own headset Cyberface, but did not succeed. Later, Eric Howlett and his son Alex created Leep VR in 2006. The LEEP lens has the largest field of view (FOV) in the virtual reality headset lens. The first Oculus prototype customized by Palmer Luckey in 2011 also adopted the LEEP lens solution.

In the early 1980s, DARPA (Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Agency) developed a practical virtual battlefield system SIMNET for tank formation combat training. In 1984, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) laboratory M. McGreevy and Dr. J. Humphries developed a virtual environment visual display for Mars exploration. This system can input Mars data into a computer to simulate the three-dimensional surface of Mars. environment. After that, NASA also invested funds to research virtual reality technology, and developed a universal multi-sensor personal simulator, data glove, interactive interface and other technical interface kits.

In 1985, WPAFB and Dean Kocian jointly developed the VCASS flight system simulator.

In 1986, Furness proposed the “Virtual Crew station” (Virtual Crew station) Revolutionary concept. In the same year, Robinett and his collaborators Michael McGreevy, Scott S, James Humphries, and Fisher published a paper “The Virtual Environment Display System” on virtual reality systems.

In 1987, James. D. Foley published “Interfacesfor Advanced Computing (advanced computer interface)” article, in this article, virtual reality uses the term “Artificial Reality” proposed by Myron Krurger in 1973 to describe. James. D. Foley proposed three key elements of virtual reality: Imagination, communication

Interaction, Behavior, clarified from the perspective of man-machine interface The virtual reality should function.

In 1989, Jaron Lanier, the founder of VPL, formally proposed “VirtualReality” concept, the term “virtual reality” is officially recognized and used. In addition, the VPL company takes virtual reality products as commodities to promote the development of virtual reality technology. In 1990, VPL went bankrupt and all patents were sold to Sun Microsystems. Today, Jaylen Lanier has his own research room at Microsoft, mainly researching augmented reality technology.

The period between 1974 and 1989 was the initial stage of the formation of the virtual reality system. The concept of virtual reality was correctedIt is proposed that the prototypes of the various devices that make up the virtual reality are gradually being developed, and the virtual reality system has the basic functions. In 1990, virtual reality ushered in a period of rapid development.

In the 1990s, with the rapid development of computer hardware and the simultaneous evolution of software systems, It makes it possible to render real-time images and sounds, coupled with the innovation of interactive technology, virtual reality ushered in the spring of development.

In 1991, Virtual Research launched the Flight headset, this headset has two 240×120The pixel display has a positioning tracking system and is also equipped with LEEP lenses.

In 1991, Virtuality launched a Commodore Amiga 3000 computer, head-mounted Visette display and a series of controllers composed of VR equipment.

In 1992, at the International Graphics Conference, Carolina Cruz-Neira and others established a large-scale VR In the CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) system, the user wears polarized glasses in a room with projection screens on all sides, and can see the three-dimensional scene surrounding him. At this conference, companies such as SGI and Sun also exhibited similar environments and systems.

In 1992, Sense8 developed the “WTK” development kit, which shortened the virtual reality system Development time.

In 1992, Liquid Image was established and sold the first virtual reality headset in 1993MRG2.

In 1993, at the CES exhibition, Sega MD console launched a Sega VR accessory, the first It supports 5 works including “VR Racing”. However, due to the failure to solve the dizziness problem, the product was eventually cancelled.

In 1993, Boeing used virtual reality technology to design the Boeing 777 aircraft. In the same year, the United States astronauts successfully completed part of the space shuttle operation using the virtual reality system.

In 1994, the virtual reality modeling language appeared, laying the foundation for the network transmission and interaction of graphics dataBasics.

At the first WWW conference held in Geneva in March 1994, the virtual reality modeling language (Virtual Reality Modeling Language, VRML for short) was formally proposed, after which modeling languages ​​such as X3D and Java3D appeared one after another.

In 1994, SGI of the United States and BARCO of Belgium built a virtual reality in the United Kingdomsystem.

In 1994, Burdea G and Coiffet published the book “Virtual Reality Technology” in which he Use imagination, interaction, and immersion to summarize the three basic characteristics of VR.

In 1995, High Technology launched the head-mounted display VFX1. In 2001, the company changed named VUZIX, and later launched an AR glasses.

In 1995, Nintendo released a Virtual Boy VR device, but the device did not use any He head tracking technology, and the supported games are limited, and many consumers experience dizziness and nausea during the game, so the product was abandoned less than a year after it was released. In 1995, Nintendo released a VFX1 Headgear device, equipped with dual LCD displays and motion tracking technology, plus stereo speakers and Cyberpuck handheld controller, with the support of games such as Doom and Quake, making this This type of equipment was really successful at the time.

On October 31, 1996, the world’s first virtual reality technology expo opened in London, England. In December of the same year, the world’s first virtual reality World Wide Web was put into operation in the UK.

In 2012, Oculus Rift landed on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, Facebook bought the company for $2 billion in March 2014.

In the 21st century, with technology With rapid development, more and more virtual reality technologies have been developed,virtual Real products have begun to enter the military and civilian fields, but are also limited in content and technology, and virtual reality has not been popularized on a large scale.

In 2016, with consumer-level VR Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PlayStation VRThe release of virtual reality has truly begun to spread to millions of households. Therefore, 2016 is also called the “first year of VR” by many media.