1. VIRTUAL REALITY KITS: GATEWAY TO
NEW EXPERIENCES
If you haven’t heard of virtual reality, you must have been living under a
rock for the past few years as far as technology is concerned.
But there’s always time for learning, so if you’re in the dark about VR – as
it is popularly known – you can understand what it means by the name
itself.
Virtual means 'near', and reality is our experience of our surroundings.
Therefore, it follows that virtual reality is a computer-generated
environment that enables you to experience a different reality.
This reality could be anything, from another room somewhere else, a
jungle or desert, the bottom of the ocean, or even the inside of your
organs! The possibilities are literally endless.
In order to experience virtual reality, you need to have a virtual reality kit
(which is also called a virtual reality headset).

2. This is a device that fits around the head over your eyes and visually
separates you from your actual physical environment.
Then, images and media from another device (a computer, gaming
console, or handheld device like a mobile phone) can be viewed through
the lenses on the headset.
Now, we experience and understand the world through our five senses of
sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste.
Our brain processes the inputs from these senses by comparing them to
what we already know to make sense of what we know as reality.
Due to this, when you replace your physical surroundings with a virtual
one by changing what you see, you trick your brain into accepting an
alternate reality.
And with the sizeable amount of high-quality content available these
days, it is easy to get immersed in the virtual world – which has
contributed to the popularity of the VR kit as a gadget of choice for our
generation of wanting more and better.
Not even the Uncanny Valley – which is when something mimics reality,
but doesn’t quite get it right because of missing or misplaced details – is
much of a problem these days, but synchronicity of sensory, hardware
and software inputs is a must for a good VR experience.
With a VR kit, you can tour exotic foreign locations, experience a film as
though you are part of the action, immerse yourself in the environment of
a video game, or even design spaces from the comfort of your living room
sofa.
As with most products, there are different kinds of virtual reality kits to
cater to the needs of different users.
In general, though, there are two types of virtual reality kits based on
mobility: mobile ones that allow for free movement, and tethered ones

3. which need to be plugged in to an external device to draw power and
content.
Let us take a look at VR kits on the basis of features available.
 Back to the Basics: This kind of virtual reality kit simply has a slot
for your mobile phone, two lenses to view content through, and a
band to hold the headset in place around your head.
Google's Cardboard headset is a prime example of a basic virtual
reality kit.
It consists of a cardboard box with an opening for a mobile device, two
lenses, a cut-out for the user's nose and a headband.
And the best part?
The user gets to fold up the cardboard sheet before the first use.
Its simple and efficient in that it gets the job done as far as a virtual reality
experience is concerned, and captures the minimum design requirements
of a VR headset.
There are several applications that are Cardboard-friendly (most notably
the online video giant, YouTube), and one can download VR-friendly
media players that have their own content as well as can play the user's
content from device storage.
Games are difficult to play as basic VR headsets do not have motion
tracking systems or controllers.
They are, however, very portable as they are not dependent on an
unwieldy external source for content or power supply.

4. Other brands of basic virtual reality kits include Samsung’s Gear VR, VR
Box and Procus.
 The Gaming-Friendly: If you move past the basics, virtual reality kits
at the higher end of the price and power spectrum have features like
advanced motion tracking, a dedicated display in the headset,
external tracking cameras or laser systems, and some draw power
and content from gaming consoles or personal computers, leaving
the headset free for richer quality of content experience.
The inbuilt display supports high-definition resolutions that allow for
more engrossing game play.
The popularity of virtual reality kits for immersive gaming is
indisputable.
Sony, the makers of the PlayStation series of gaming consoles, has
designed a dedicated virtual reality kit for PS users. HTC Vive and

5. Oculus Rift are other popular virtual reality kits as far as gaming is
concerned.
The Vive is the more expensive of the two, and both come with top of
the line motion tracking sensors for superior control during game play.
With the headset and motion tracking working in conjunction with
each other, and good game design, you can look around and interact
with objects in the virtual space quite seamlessly.
These headsets even come with some games pre-installed, and support
the Steam platform for further expansion.

6.  Specialty kits: VR kits are also used in the medical field for trainee
surgeons to practice with. Microsoft has been said to be designing a
mixed reality VR prototype that will integrate with the Windows
operating system and take business productivity one step farther.
The featurette shows the kit being used for holographic communication
and virtual 3D design.
All in all, virtual reality is an up and coming trend in the media world.
Today and you can make the most of it by trying out a VR kit yourself.
Or, if you’re more a behind the scenes person, by taking advantage of the
courses at Maac Kolkata centres and developing your knowledge of how
the content that goes into VR is made.
Either way, the (virtual) world is yours!