Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality: the Rise, Decline, and Return
Xavier Woodard
INF 103
Dr. Kris Jamsa
December 10, 2012
Virtual Reality: The Rise, Decline, and Return
Virtual Reality once the most talked about technological advancement, then a near nonexistent application, and now a returning enterprise. Virtual reality or VR, as it is often times referred to, is computer simulated reality that gives the user a feel of the physical world in an imaginary world setting. The history of VR is an interesting history that traverses into fiction and normal reality. As time has pass VR rose, decline, and been revived in mainstream media. During the decline of VR it saw new life in the fields of military, medical, and space exploration. After the near disappearance of VR it has return in through the use of new video game software.
Virtual reality has a long history beginning in the 1860s, however use in computing and graphics did not begin until the early 1960s. The concept of using virtual reality in computers came from naval radar technician Douglas Engelbert. Virtual reality began its computing use in the military with the creation of the flight simulators. “By the 1970s, some of Hollywood 's most dazzling special effects were computer-generated, such as the battle scenes in the big-budget, blockbuster science fiction movie Star Wars, which was released in 1976. Later came such movies as Terminator and Jurassic Park. In the early 1980s, the video game business boomed (History, 1995).” Virtual Reality reaches its greatest mainstream advancement in the form of video game headsets and its visual uses in movies in the 1980s and1990s. Virtual Reality received mainstream attention after the release of the movie Tron in 1982, Star Trek the Next Generation in 1987, and The Matrix in 1999.Virtual reality became a reclusive subject in the mid-2000s after the end of the Matrix movie and it went into more practical uses. After the end of The Matrix movies phenomenon in 2003, VR quietly
Xavier Woodard
INF 103
Dr. Kris Jamsa
December 10, 2012
Virtual Reality: The Rise, Decline, and Return
Virtual Reality once the most talked about technological advancement, then a near nonexistent application, and now a returning enterprise. Virtual reality or VR, as it is often times referred to, is computer simulated reality that gives the user a feel of the physical world in an imaginary world setting. The history of VR is an interesting history that traverses into fiction and normal reality. As time has pass VR rose, decline, and been revived in mainstream media. During the decline of VR it saw new life in the fields of military, medical, and space exploration. After the near disappearance of VR it has return in through the use of new video game software.
Virtual reality has a long history beginning in the 1860s, however use in computing and graphics did not begin until the early 1960s. The concept of using virtual reality in computers came from naval radar technician Douglas Engelbert. Virtual reality began its computing use in the military with the creation of the flight simulators. “By the 1970s, some of Hollywood 's most dazzling special effects were computer-generated, such as the battle scenes in the big-budget, blockbuster science fiction movie Star Wars, which was released in 1976. Later came such movies as Terminator and Jurassic Park. In the early 1980s, the video game business boomed (History, 1995).” Virtual Reality reaches its greatest mainstream advancement in the form of video game headsets and its visual uses in movies in the 1980s and1990s. Virtual Reality received mainstream attention after the release of the movie Tron in 1982, Star Trek the Next Generation in 1987, and The Matrix in 1999.Virtual reality became a reclusive subject in the mid-2000s after the end of the Matrix movie and it went into more practical uses. After the end of The Matrix movies phenomenon in 2003, VR quietly
References: Archive.ncsa.illinois.edu.(1995). Virtual Reality: History. Retrieved from http://archive.ncsa.illinois.edu/Cyberia/VETopLevels/VR.History.html Science.nasa.gov.(2004). Whatever happened to …Virtual Reality? Retrieved from http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2004/21jun_vr/ www.nasa.gov. (2008). NASA - NASA Ames Research Center Public Affairs Office Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/releases/1999/99images/virtualhospital/virhospx.html Simulations save virtual money: Military fakes fights in virtual reality lab (synthesized immersion research environment). (1994, Dec 06). Chronicle - Herald. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/345296121?accountid=32521 Dunkley, P. (1994). Virtual reality in medical training. The Lancet, 343(8907), 1218-1218. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198976023?accountid=32521 www.hitl.washington.edu. (1993). Military applications of virtual reality. Retrieved from http://www.hitl.washington.edu/scivw/EVE/II.G.Military.html faculty.colostate-pueblo.edu. (1997). A Brief History of Virtual Reality and Its Social Applications Retrieved from http://faculty.colostate-pueblo.edu/samuel.ebersole/336/eim/papers/vrhist.html