Imagine meeting Leonardo De Vinci, flying a WW1 fighter jet or standing on the moon, all without leaving your home. Cue: virtual reality.
While virtual reality is still a relatively new marketing concept for small business, it’s not hard to see the big impression it’s leaving on the market.
What is Virtual Reality?
Virtual Reality (VR) is an immersive experience that tricks the user into believing the virtual world they have entered, is real.
It employs computer technology to create a three-dimensional, computer generated, immersive environment which the user can interact with, and explore.
How does VR work?
Unlike traditional user interfaces, VR places the user inside the experience.
A VR headset sits over the user’s eyes, and visually separates them from the space they are physically occupying. As images are fed to the user’s eyes through two small lenses, they are transported into a 3D world.
To be truly immersive, be convincing.
VR is designed to create an enhanced reality but without the right sound, feel and even smell to match the visuals, the brain doesn’t buy into the illusion.
Just seeing a virtual world isn’t enough. To really immerse the user, they need to hear their virtual reality. The sound of water dripping, approaching footsteps, or wind blowing can take a user from a 2D illusion to a 3D reality. With the inclusion of VR headphones, virtual worlds are becoming more realistic.
While feel and smell aren’t as easily available in all virtual reality experiences, they are on the rise. What if you could stand at the base of an erupting volcano and feel the heat of the lava and smell the burning of rock?
Virtual reality technologies such as FEELREAL are bringing these experiences to life. Using a variety of technologies, including micro-coolers to simulate the wind, microheaters to produce warmth, water misters, and even an odour generator with seven interchangeable smell cartridges, the settings can be easily changed depending on the game or movie the user is playing or watching.
VR: On the rise
While the more advanced features of VR are still in the developing phase, virtual reality is well and truly, a reality.
K.I.S.S top tips for VR beginners:
- Make sure the camera is stable
- Direct the focus for the user
- Minimise the cuts, so it doesn’t jar the viewer
- Give time for people to take in what you are putting out there.
Want to see VR in practice? Stay tuned next week, for our top Virtual Reality experiences for you to draw some VR inspo from!
Want to stay ahead of the marketing game?
Let’s talk.
See you next week,
Darnelle
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