Virtual Reality

Computer and video "VR" simulations that entail wearing headgear, electronic gloves, and possibly electronic body suits such that users are immersed in a cyberspace of simulated reality that gives the sensation of being in a three-dimensional world where objects can be moved about with hand movements and sensations of walking and touching are simulated using super computing power. The origins of virtual reality are in flight simulators of the military. There are now VR game arcades and laboratories where wide varieties of applications in entertainment, training, medical research, architectural design, data research, etc. are taking place. Virtual reality programs require massive computer power. Usually, the closer authors attempt to simulate the real world, the greater the computing power needed to achieve sensations of reality. Although most of virtual reality applications to date have been in training and entertainment, there are some applications in data analysis such as the use of VR to analyze international portfolio data in the TIAA/CREF Pension Funds. Winn (1994) contends VR will become a major part of university curricula. He cites evidence that VR is especially successful for learning in disadvantaged and physically handicapped students. In June 1994, Apple Corporation unveiled a new desktop computing software option (with a CD-ROM recorder) called QuickTime VR that takes a collection of photographs (e.g., photographs of numerous angles of the inside of a room) and assembles them into motion scenes that resemble more expensive virtual reality generated on super computers. Viacom Inc. sells a QuickTime VR entertainment CD-ROM called "Star Trek: The Next Generation Interactive Technical Manual" that provides VR tours of the Starship USS Enterprise. For a review of some initial applications of QuickTime VR in anatomy education see Carlton (1994b). (See also Simulation and VRML.)