VIRTUAL REALITY - Overview

Expo/Theater/Virtual Environments

INTRODUCING VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS

What are Virtual Environments?

National Center for Supercomputing Applications

Become smaller than an atom or larger than the universe. Journey back in time and space to the birth of galaxies, watch ripples of gravity as black holes collide or travel through the human bloodstream. Build a city of cathedrals, mosques, and pyramids or listen to the sounds of chaos. All of these are possible within virtual environments.

Human Interface Technology Laboratory

Computer visualization is reshaping how scientists evaluate and explore their data and promises to transform how students learn. Within the past four decades, dramatic advances in graphic display and high-end computing have made it possible to transform billions of bits of data into interactive, three-dimensional images that you can manipulate in real time. Here, all the display and feedback devices that make this possible are collectively termed "Virtual Environments. "

Electronic Visualization Laboratory

Imagine if you could step into your computer screen. The images once suspended on your flat screen now pop into three dimensions. You could explore them from above, below, or inside. You could stand before the sink in the kitchen you just designed or feel the rumblings from a simulated volcano.

The experience of venturing inside a computer-generated "virtual" world, of immersion in data, is what happens in "virtual reality" or "VR." Through various display devices, data are transformed into 3D images you not only see but also hear or even touch.