Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR) are often confused, even by industry professionals. People outside the field sometimes struggle to differentiate them, and even within the industry, it's not always easy to explain. As technology evolves, the lines between VR, AR, and MR become increasingly blurred, with new terms like XR emerging. So how do we clearly distinguish these concepts? Let’s dive in.
Jimmy B. Nguyen, a product designer at The Knot who has worked on VR applications for HTC Vive, shared his insights on Medium about these technologies and lessons he learned while designing virtual reality experiences. Here’s a compilation of his thoughts:
**What is VR?**
Virtual Reality refers to a computer-generated 3D environment that allows users to explore and interact with a simulated world. At its core, VR transports users into an entirely different space, making them feel as if they are physically present in that environment.
Imagine being fully immersed in a novel, where you're not just reading about the story but actually living it. VR does something similar—it tricks your senses into believing you're in another world, making you a part of the narrative.
However, not all VR headsets are the same. The main difference lies in the **Degrees of Freedom (DoF)**—how much movement the system can track.
**Three Degrees of Freedom (3DoF)**
With 3DoF, the headset tracks your head’s rotation: pitch, yaw, and roll. Devices like Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR use your phone’s sensors to detect this movement. You can look around, but if you move your body forward or backward, the virtual world doesn’t change.
**Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF)**
6DoF adds tracking for both rotation and translation. This means the system can detect your head and controller movements in all directions. High-end systems like the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift use external sensors to create a more immersive experience. You can walk around, bend down, or move freely, and the virtual world reacts accordingly.
In the game *Rec Room*, I was often asked, “How do you avoid the balls thrown at you?†The answer? Just kneel down!
**What is AR?**
Augmented Reality overlays digital elements onto the real world. According to the Oxford Dictionary, AR enhances the physical environment with computer-generated visuals, creating a hybrid view.
There are two levels of AR: **Low Fidelity AR** and **High Fidelity AR**. Pokémon Go is a classic example of low fidelity AR—virtual characters appear on top of the real world without interacting with it. In contrast, high fidelity AR places digital objects in real-world spaces with spatial awareness.
**What is Mixed Reality (MR)?**
MR is closely associated with devices like Microsoft HoloLens. It goes beyond AR by allowing digital objects to interact with the real world. For instance, if a Pokémon appears behind a lamppost in Pokémon Go, it’s still just a flat image. But in MR, the object would be placed accurately in 3D space, blocking your view when necessary.
For clarity, in future discussions, I’ll refer to **AR** as low-fidelity and **MR** as high-fidelity.
**Advantages of MR Over VR**
While VR offers full immersion, it isolates users from the real world. MR, on the other hand, keeps the real environment as the primary context. For example, you can use MR to visualize a new sofa in your living room or navigate to a location using AirBnb.
**Lessons Learned from VR Development**
1. **No one reads text in VR**
In my first project, *Easy Chef*, we used text instructions to guide users through cooking steps. However, when we tested it with five users, none of them read the text. They needed verbal cues instead. VR users often lose their sense of direction, so visual or auditory guidance is more effective.
2. **Users need a learning curve**
Not everyone is familiar with VR controllers. Even with on-screen instructions, users often don’t look down at their hands. A clear onboarding process is essential to avoid confusion.
3. **Consider the user’s starting point**
In VR, users can't see everything at once. Just like in the real world, you need to guide them to what matters. For example, in *ConvokaTIon*, a rhythm game, the position of the spheres had to be carefully placed relative to the user’s standing spot.
4. **Experiment continuously**
Since VR design is still evolving, it’s important to test ideas quickly and iterate. My last project, *Model VRoom*, allowed users to design rooms in VR. We experimented with placing menus on the controller, which turned out to be very intuitive and well-received.
Mike Alger, a Google VR designer, has shared valuable insights on YouTube, including videos on interface design and pre-visualization techniques. His words resonate deeply: “We do VR because we can create worlds others can explore, and in doing so, we better understand ourselves.â€
By understanding the differences between VR, AR, and MR, and learning from real-world experiences, we can build more meaningful and immersive digital interactions.
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