Nine interactive modes of virtual reality and their status quo

At present, VR interaction is still being explored and researched, and the combination with various high-tech will make VR interaction infinite possibilities. VR will not have a universal means of interaction, and its interaction has a richer form than flat graphic interaction. The article will summarize the nine interactive modes of virtual reality and their development status.

Realize interaction with "eye tracking"

Eye tracking technology is considered by most VR practitioners to be an important technological breakthrough to solve the problem of vertigo in virtual reality helmets. Oculus founder Palmer Rach once called eye tracking technology "the heart of VR" because it detects the position of the human eye and can provide the best 3D effect for the current viewing angle, making the VR headset present The image is more natural and the delay is smaller, which can greatly increase the playability. At the same time, since the eye tracking technology can know the real gaze point of the human eye, the depth of field of the viewpoint position on the virtual object can be obtained. Eye tracking technology is definitely worthy of close attention by practitioners. However, despite the fact that many companies are studying eye tracking technology, none of the solutions are satisfactory.

Realize interaction with "motion capture"

The motion capture system allows users to gain complete immersion and truly "enter" the virtual world. There are not many motion capture systems specifically for VR. Motion capture devices on the market will only be used in certain super-heavy scenes, because they have inherent ease-of-use thresholds that require users to spend a long time wearing and calibrating them before they can be used. In contrast, optical devices such as Kinect may also be used in some scenes that do not require high precision. Whole body motion capture is not necessary in many occasions, and a major pain point of its interactive design is that there is no feedback, and it is difficult for users to feel that their operations are effective.

Realize interaction with "EMG simulation"

There are many problems that need to be overcome when using electrical muscle stimulation to simulate real sensations. Because the nerve channel is a delicate and complex structure, it is impossible to stimulate the skin from the outside. The current level of biotechnology cannot use electrical muscle stimulation to highly simulate actual feelings. Even in this way, what can be achieved is a rough feeling, which is not very useful for the pursuit of immersive VR.

There is a VR boxing device Impacto that uses electromyography to achieve interaction. Specifically, part of the Impacto device is a vibration motor, which can produce a sense of vibration, which can be experienced in the gamepad; the other part is a muscle electrical stimulation system, which stimulates muscle contraction through electric current. The combination of the two makes people mistakenly think that they have hit the opponent in the game, because this device will produce a "shock" similar to real boxing at the right time.

Realize interaction with "tactile feedback"

Tactile feedback is mainly button and vibration feedback, mostly through virtual reality controllers. It should be the latest development field in the VR system. This will also be a great challenge facing augmented reality and virtual reality, that is, how to bring us a near-real scene touch, which can make us While immersing in the 3D space, the vision and sound of the camera further blur the boundary between virtual reality and real world.

But it cannot adapt to a wider range of application scenarios. At present, the three major VR headset manufacturers Oculus, Sony, and HTC Valve all use virtual reality controllers as standard interaction modes: two-handed separation, six-degree-of-freedom spatial tracking, and a handle with buttons and vibration feedback. Such equipment is obviously used for some highly specialized game applications (and light consumer applications), which can also be regarded as a business strategy, because the early consumers of VR headsets should be basically game players.

Realize interaction with "voice"

VR users will not pay attention to the instruction text in the visual center, but look around and constantly discover and explore. Some graphical instructions can interfere with their immersion in VR, so the best way is to use voice and not interfere with the world around them they are observing. At this time, if the user interacts with the VR world by voice, it will be more natural, and it is everywhere and all the time, the user does not need to move the head and look for them, and can communicate with them in any direction and any corner

Realize interaction with "direction tracking"

Direction tracking can be used to control the user's direction in VR. However, if you use direction tracking, space may be limited in many cases, and you may not be able to turn it around when you adjust the direction. The interaction designer gave a solution to reset the direction of the current gaze, but the problem still exists. It is possible that the user is tired of playing and weakens the comfort.

Realize interaction with "real venue"

The super-heavy interactive virtual reality theme park The Void adopts this approach, which is to create a freely movable real site that is completely consistent with the walls, barriers and boundaries of the virtual world. This real site is carefully planned through levels and Scene design can bring users a good experience that various peripherals cannot. The virtual world is built on the physical world, so that users can feel the surrounding objects and use real props, such as lanterns, swords, guns, etc. Chinese media call it "the strongest entertainment facility on the surface." The disadvantage of this is that the scale and investment are large, and it can only be applied to a specific virtual scene, and it is limited in the wide range of scene applications.

Realize interaction with "gesture"

Currently, there are two ways to track gestures, each with its advantages and disadvantages. One is optical tracking, and the second is data gloves. The advantage of optical tracking lies in the low barriers to use, flexible scenes, and users do not need to wear or take off the device on their hands. 　Optical tracking is a very feasible thing in the future to directly integrate optical hand tracking on the integrated mobile VR headset as an interactive method for moving scenes. However, the disadvantage is that the field of view is limited, and interactions that require the user's mental and physical effort will not be successful. Using gesture tracking will be tiring and unintuitive, and there is no feedback.

The advantage of data gloves is that there is no field of view limitation, and feedback mechanisms (such as vibration, buttons and touch) can be integrated on the device. Its drawback lies in the high barriers to use: users need to put on and take off the device, and as a peripheral, its usage scenarios are still limited.

Realize interaction with "sensor"

Sensors can help people interact naturally with the multi-dimensional VR information environment. For example, people entering the virtual world not only want to sit there, they also want to be able to walk around in the virtual world, but at present these are basically produced by various sensors on the device, such as smart induction loops and temperature sensors. , Photosensitive sensors, pressure sensors, vision sensors, etc., can make the skin produce corresponding sensations through pulsed current, or transmit various perceptions such as touch and smell in the game to the brain. The existing application sensor equipment experience is not high, and many breakthroughs are needed in technology. For example, the universal treadmill, the current experience is not good, such a treadmill can not actually provide a feeling close to real movement. Another example is StompzVR, which uses inertial sensors on the feet to walk in place instead of forward. There is also a full-body VR suit Teslasuit, which can feel the changes in the virtual reality environment.

Virtual reality is a new revolution in the way of interaction, and people are realizing the change in the way of interaction from interface to space. In the future, multi-channel interaction will be the mainstream interaction form in the VR era. At present, the input methods of VR interaction have not yet been unified, and various interactive devices on the market still have their own shortcomings.

As an ultimate technology that can "deceive" the brain, virtual reality has developed rapidly in a short period of time and has been widely used in medicine, military aerospace, interior design, industrial design, real estate development, and protection of cultural relics. With the intervention of multi-player VR interactive games and the development of player tracking technology, virtual reality brings the distance between people closer and closer. This distance is no longer just to use the Internet to achieve the purpose of interaction between people. But it also narrowed the distance between people physically. It is not difficult for us to judge that the real multi-person interaction of virtual reality in the future will be in full swing.