For someone who hasn’t been exposed to virtual reality, it can be difficult to imagine what it looks like. Even those who have had a headset on before can have a hard time explaining what it looks like.
Virtual reality looks like being inside a video game or virtual environment with 360-degree vision. Some cheaper headsets have a “screen door” effect that makes everything look as if viewing it through a screen door.
I have been in the VR industry for over a year now and I still learn more every day about what it looks like. Read on to learn more about what virtual reality looks like inside and out from every angle and aspect.
What Virtual Reality Looks like inside
The entire point of virtual reality is to mimic reality. The opportunities and experiences are endless as the VR wearer enters a digital world that does not have to obey any laws of physics.
Virtual reality messes with a few of one’s senses including sight, hearing, and sometimes even touch. This can make it really easy to forget you are in digital space because of how real it actually appears, sounds, and feels.
The VR headset you wear tracks where you are looking and facing. This makes it so in the virtual world you move and look just how you are in real life.
The World of VR
Virtual reality really takes away any limits that you can have in actual reality. You can choose to go wherever you want and see whatever you want to see.
The thing that you need to know is that virtual reality looks and feels more real than you think it will. I have shown hundreds of different people virtual reality and the most common response is, “Wow, this is way more real than I thought it would be!”
Virtual reality can make you feel, and even believe, that you are flying over the Hawaiian islands or fighting zombies in Arizona. As mentioned before, the experiences are endless and it is really mind-blowing. Nobody is prepared for it if they haven’t tried it before.
No one ever forgets the first time they try on a VR headset. I remember when I put on the developer edition of the Oculus Rift when they first came out and my mind was blown. It looked like something that I have never seen before, and to this day it is hard for me to describe because it is so incredible and futuristic.
Picture Quality in VR
Something really important to mention, even though it might be obvious, is that almost everything in virtual reality looks low resolution, and at times even cartoonish depending on the game. This is not the fault of the hardware but is normally the software.
Many of the games and programs available on virtual reality are produced by a small team of people and therefore are normally more focused on generating content rather than focusing on details. This results in furniture that is all one shade of orange rather than the texture of the fabric.
However, some programmers really focus on quality. The Google Earth app, for example, looks pretty amazing when you drop yourself to street view.
Your body in VR
One of the strangest parts of virtual reality is that you usually have no form. Aside from your hands and eyes, you really have no ability to see where the rest of your body is.
In the future, I am sure that there will be additional features that will know where your body is and then show that in VR. For now, you are normally a bodyless visage with floating hands!
How do I see if I am going to run into something?
Almost every virtual reality headset and program have a way of telling you that you are getting too close to a designated boundary. For example, SteamVR puts a temporary grid up if you get too close to the wall or couch.
This grid appears almost like a large fence and will disappear when you get back into a safe area. The wearer can look at this grid and know that they are walking too far away from the system.
What VR Looks Like From the Outside
Many people say that virtual reality looks a little silly when somebody is using it, which may be the case. In all honesty, once you put on the headset you completely forget about how you look simply because everybody in the room is replaced with a stunning virtual landscape that will take your breath away.
That being said, watching people get their mind blown in VR is probably my favorite part about it. It is so fun to watch somebody walk on a plank that they think is 30 stories off the ground when in reality it is just sitting on their living room floor.
If you are only looking to play by yourself, many people set up in their room and just have the game running on a small computer screen. For larger parties, it can be really fun to connect a computer running VR up to a large TV in a living room with plenty of space for observers.
There are many different parts of the virtual reality set up, and the look of all of them vary greatly.
Controllers – What They Look Like
These controllers come with the HTC Vive. They have a trackpad on the top, buttons on the top, grip buttons on the sides, and a trigger on the bottom of each controller.
There are a lot of controllers out there, but most of them are designed for function and not form.
Almost all controllers have some sort of ring in the front for tracking purposes, and every single controller for VR that I have ever seen has a trigger on the bottom. Some controllers have a thumbstick, while others have a trackpad.
Headsets – What They Look Like
There are so many different headsets on the market, but most of them fall into one of three categories.
Mobile Phone
Mobile Phone headsets are basically just a viewing device for your cell phone, and some of them are even made out of cardboard.
Many of these headsets are really cheap, and only some of them, like Samsung VR, actually come with a controller.
These can either look really cheap or really fancy depending on the manufacturer.
People that are really familiar with virtual reality tend to talk bad about these headsets, but they are really great for very short demos to explain the technology.
With headsets that use mobile phones, you are not going to be able to move around a room without running into things. The only movement that you have is rotating/tilting your head. Mostly these types of headsets are great for viewing 360 video and really simple games.
There are a lot of really cheap ones on Amazon, and you can check them out by clicking this link.
Untethered Headsets
These headsets are when you start getting into real VR. They are not as immersive as tethered headsets, but they are not as clunky and look a lot cleaner than most. These headsets are the ones that are generally used in business applications.
Although you use your phone to change settings and see what is going on in the headset, a phone is not needed for it to function on its own. It has its own processing, battery, screen, and tracking all inside the headset.
These headsets have no cords other than the charging cable.
Our personal favorite is the Oculus Go, especially since they are relatively cheap. They have a lot of free games and apps including Netflix. Click here to get one on Amazon.
Tethered Headsets
This is the best of the best in terms of what VR has to offer right now.
These headsets are bulkier and normally have cables running to a computer that does all the processing. The headset is simply a display that doubles as a tracking device. The cable may not look super visually appealing, but these headsets are top-notch.
Many of these headsets require some sort of trackers that are set up in the room, for example, the HTC Vive requires “lighthouses” to be set up on opposite sides of the room.
Although all of the cords and trackers can be unattractive to some, these headsets provide an experience that mimics reality best.