Designers, Rise Up: Virtual is the Next, Next Thing

Our culture is buzzing about VR, AR, and MR — and for good reason. This summer alone, Sotheby’s launched the first AR real estate app; Hulu announced that it will air the first VR comedy; and Microsoft is about to release SharePoint software, which will allow people to “experience” their financial assets in a digitally enhanced setting. If SCAD ForwardFest 2018 was any indication, expect a period of AR and VR innovation on par with the internet explosion of the 1990s. 

Still, many of us still have only a vague idea of what these initialisms even stand for. Across all industries people are trying to find clarity. Earlier this year, Forbes published a definitional piece. And trendy software agency Foundry says, “VR? AR? MR? Sorry, I'm confused.” There’s even an ongoing Wiki to help keep track. So if you aren’t clear on what they mean, you aren’t alone! With apologies to those readers who are already hip to the future, here are some handy ways to envision each:  

VR = “virtual reality”

Imagine holding a One-Hit Obliterator inside the fictional world of The Legend of Zelda. VR totally immerses the senses in digital content as a headset envelops eyes and ears and hands hold a joystick or other controller. Sometimes the entire body is suited (often providing haptic feedback). VR allows the user to enter an entirely different sensory realm in which movement and interaction have (or appear to have) consequences.

AR = “augmented reality”

Picture Iron Man’s or Terminator’s point of view. AR enhances the real world in a way similar to how a head-up display appears to float before your vehicle’s windshield. Like Tony Stark, you see what’s really there, but with relevant information superimposed over it. Or think Snapchat: Your selfie filter makes you look like a puppy sticking its tongue out, which you aren’t, I’m guessing. 

MR = “mixed reality”

Want a deeper interaction between the real and virtual worlds? In MR you might actually hold a hologram — and feel it as a physical object. MR’s digital content knows the size and mass of real-world objects, distances between them, states of light and darkness, and much more. You can “teleport” a technician into your home.  Or your virtual pet might actually go hide in a real closet in your house. So far, mixed reality is the most challenging of the three ways virtual and real interact.

VR and AR are already changing the game. All the games. And not just gaming: They’re providing new ways to accomplish everyday tasks from managing your stock portfolio to keeping track of shipping containers in a dockyard. These technologies make surgeons’ lives easier, for example, by projecting digital information over a real abdominal wall to allow an ultra-precise laparotomy. Readers beginning to think about what they’re going to study in college and beyond, should consider AR and VR as more than novelties that make selfie filters possible, or as the exclusive province of gaming and entertainment. These tools are as useful as hammers and screwdrivers. 

Consider some of the uses for AR and VR beyond entertainment.

• Perhaps the biggest immediate change VR will bring is in the way people prepare for their jobs. Decades ago, pilots and astronauts trained using simulators, but, in the near future, all industries will have access to virtual training devices. When miners enter a tricky shaft, they will have already been there — quite possibly that very same shaft’s virtual twin! Pro athletes will never face an in-game situation they hadn’t already simulated. Even sexual harassment training will likely soon be delivered in VR. 
• VR will also make life easier for people who think visually rather than analytically. The financial services industry has already pioneered ways to allow customers to “experience” their stock portfolios, investment growth, and retirement savings by walking through it. Imagine entering a city whose skyline represents the total value of different investments. Imagine that they’re different colors based on how quickly they’ve grown over a certain period of time. Visual thinkers will be able to make better, more informed decisions about their money. 
• One huge way AR will help make the world a better place is by creating accommodations for those who are deaf and hard of hearing. Microsoft Hololens software developers are already working on ways to translate spoken language into visual signs so deaf people can “hear” a speaker in real time.
• AR will also revolutionize the way we drive cars. Imagine looking forward toward the road ahead and seeing arrows extending gracefully down the route you’ve mapped. Picture safety alerts “existing” in a way that you don’t need to rely solely on orange cones and traffic message trailer signs, but rather the warning turns an entire section of the road orange — or pulsing with light. 
• AR will help the elderly, too. Delivered via Google Glass devices that look very much like normal eyewear (and in fact can be prescription glasses!), AR will help older users navigate tricky shopping or errands with greater ease by labeling “to do” items by priority and suggesting easier pedestrian, walker, or wheelchair routes.  

Throughout history, at times of significant technological change, inventive people have risen up and moved the world forward. When the printing press debuted, when steam power was harnessed, when the first light bulb flickered on, or when the first email was sent — creative, visionary people caught on to the implications of those changes and applied them in new ways. 

The big question is, how will you contribute? What role will you play?

For undergrads, SCAD is a great place to start. As of this fall, our university offers a new B.F.A. in immersive reality — a core of game design programs and resources headquartered in our high-tech Montgomery Hall. Plus, we’ve introduced 11 brand new courses you can take next door, in our new UX Lab called The Shed. Here students can experiment the way SCAD alum David Karlak does when he creates VR experiences for Ridley Scott films. David was working on VR even before it was cool. In all, SCAD offers nearly 40 courses that expand students’ knowledge of immersive reality.

For everyone else, come to a relevant SCAD gathering — AnimationFest, SCAD Savannah Film Festival, aTVfest, and GamingFest to see new developments in AR/VR.  Or check out our new B.F.A. in Immersive Reality.  

Sound intriguing? It is. AR, VR, and MR are more than next; They’re now at SCAD.