A few years later, the hype around VR andARhas died down.
ThenFacebook(the company)changed its name to Metaand signaled its investment in themetaverse.
Suddenly everyone cared about VR and AR again.
Yet I still find many people still arent quite clear on what all these terms mean.
Whats the difference betweenaugmented realityand virtual reality?
What does XR stand for, and what exactly is mixed reality?
Fret no more friends, Im here to help.
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Virtual Reality (VR)
Virtual reality is the OG.
Virtual reality generally refers to a fully immersive experience replacing the real world with a fully computer-generated one.
Typically, experiencing VR requires wearing an opaque headset that blocks your eyes from the real world.
This generally counts even if the VR headset is creating a simulacrum of your surroundings.
Therefore, when youre experiencing AR, your perception is still guided by real-world objects and events.
If youve used a Snapchat filter, youve used a form of AR.
Augmented reality doesnt have to happen through a headset.
It was coined by researchers Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino ina 1994 paper.
Mixed reality is everything between these two extremes, so it generally works for both AR and VR.
So what about extended reality (XR), then?
Well… in most situations, it pretty much means the same thing.
Which one ends up being more popular remains to be seen.
In any case, Id bet whatever Apple uses to describeits rumored headsetwill be the term that sticks around.
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