A Brief History of VR

1. A Brief History of VR Reading: Burdea, Chapter 1

2. Organization • Three-Dimensional Display • Virtual Reality Systems • Important Events

3. 3D Display • 1838-1948 - Early Systems • 1967 - Traub’s Varifocal Mirror • 1979 - LEEP Optics • 1970s - Computer-based stereo displays • 1985 - Commercial LC shutter displays

4. Early 3D Display 1838 - Wheatstone Stereoscope 1849 - Brewster Stereoscope 1903 - Parallax Barrier 1915 – First 3D movie 1948 - Holography

5. Volumetric Displays • 1967 - Traub’s Varifocal Mirror • 1981 – Larry Sher at BB&N SpaceGraph • 1986 - Patent Number 4,607,255UNC Chapel Hill • VFM Video

6. Commercial Shutter Glasses for CRT-based Stereoscopic Display • Time-multiplexed stereoscopic display • 1970s – PLZT Ceramic Shutters • 1985 - Commercial LC shutter displays

7. LEEP Optics • Eric Howlett, Pop-Optix Labs 1979 • Large Expanse, Extra Perspective (LEEP) • Originally for stereoscopic still photo viewing • Lenses correct for intentional camera distortion • Later used in HMDs

8. LEEP Optics

9. Virtual Reality Systems • 1929 – Link Flight Simulator • 1946 – First computer (ENIAC) • 1956 – Sensorama • 1960 – Heileg’s HMD • 1965-68 – The Ultimate Display • 1972 – Pong • 1973 – Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. • 1976 – Videoplace • 1977 – Apple, Commodore, and Radio Shack PCs • 1979 – First Data Glove [Sayre] (powerglove -89) • 1981 – SGI founded • 1985 – NASA AMES • 1986-89 – Super Cockpit Program • 1990s – Boom Displays • 1992 – CAVE (at Siggraph) • 1995 – Workbench • 1998 – Walking Experiment

10. Link Flight Simulator • 1929 - Edward Link develops a mechanical flight simulator • Train in a synthetic environment • Used mechanical linkages • Instrument (blind) flying • http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/early_years/ey19a.htm

11. Sensorama Morton Heilig, 1956 Motorcycle simulator - all senses • visual (city scenes) • sound (engine, city sounds) • vibration (engine) • smell (exhaust, food) Extend the notion of a ‘movie’

12. Heilig’s HMD (1960) Simulation Mask from Heilig’s 1960 patent • 3D photographic slides • WFOV optics with focus control • Stereo sound • Smell

13. Ivan Sutherland • The Ultimate Display (FIPS 1965) • Data Visualization: “A display connected to a digital computer…is a looking glass into a mathematical wonderland.” • Body Tracking: “The computer can easily sense the positions of almost any of our body muscles.”

14. Ultimate Display (cont.) • Virtual Environments that mimic real environments: “A chair display in such a room would be good enough to sit in. Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet displayed in such a room would be fatal.” • VEs that go beyond reality: “There is no reason why the objects displayed by a computer have to follow ordinary rules of physical reality with which we are familiar.”

15. First HMD-Based VR • 1965 - The Ultimate Display paper by Sutherland • 1968 - Ian Sutherland’s HMD

16. Molecular Docking Simulator • Incorporated force feedback • Visualize an abstract simulation

17. Data Gloves • Light, electrical or metal detectors compute “bend” • Electrical sensors detect pinches. • Force feedback mechanical linkages

18. 1983 - Artificial Reality Responsive Environment • Is an environment where human behavior is perceived by a computer which interprets what it observes and responds through intelligent visual and auditory displays • Contained many of the ideas that define: • VR • Context Aware Computing • Video Place

19. 1985 - Nasa Ames HMD • McGreevy and and Humphries • Wearable immersive HMDs • LCD “Watchman” displays • LEEP Optics • Led to VIVID, led by Scott Fisher

20. Super Cockpit - Tom Furness • Wright Patterson Air Force Base • Visual, auditory, tactile • Head, eye, speech, and hand input • Designed to deal with problem of pilot information overload • Flight controls and tasks too complicated • Research only • Big system, not safe for ejecting

21. FakeSpace Boom Display - early 1990s

22. CAVE - 1992

23. Virtual Workbench-1995 (Responsive Workbench, Immersidesk, etc.)

24. Current Best VE • UNC Pit Experiment • Fear of Heights a Strong Response • Thousands of visitors • Compelling Experience • Haptics • Low Latency • High Visual Quality

25. Major VR Companies

26. VR Events • 1985 - VPL Founded • 1987 - VR in Scientific American • 1990 – SIGGRAPH Panel Session • 1991 - ICAT (International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence) in Japan • 1995 – IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium (VRAIS 95). • 1995 – Beginning of Clinical VR • 1998 – DisneyQuest opens • 1999 – VRAIS replaced by IEEE VR Conference

27. VPL Founded - 1985 • First VR Company • VPL Research by Jaron Lanier and Thomas Zimmerman • Data Glove • Term: Virtual Reality

28. VR Comes to the Public’s Attention 1987 Article by Jim Foley that features the VPL Data Glove

29. Siggraph 1990 Special Session: Hip, Hype and Hope – The Three Faces of Virtual Worlds Chair: Bob Jacobson, University of Washington Panelists: John Barlow, Author and Songwritter Nolan Bushnell, Aaps, Inc. Esther Dyson, Editor, Release 1.0, Analyst Tom Furness, Human Interface Technology Lab Timothy Leary, University of Pittsburgh Warren Robinette, University of North Carolina Randall Walser, Autodesk

30. 1995 - First IEEE Virtual Reality Annual International Symposium(now IEEE VR) • VRAIS 93 in Seattle • Research Frontiers in VR workshop at Visualization 93 • “Timothy Leary Wasn’t Invited” http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~lfhodges/UNCCVR/Fall03/VRAIS95.gif

31. 1995 - Effectiveness of computer-generated (VR) graded exposure in the treatment of acrophobia in American Journal of Psychiatry

32. First IEEE VR in 1999 • Announced at VRAIS 98 in Atlanta • First IEEE VR held in Houston in 1999 http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~lfhodges/UNCCVR/Fall03/VR99.pdf • 2003 – Los Angelos, CA • 2004 - Chicago

33. Major Reinvigoration: Hardware Evolution • High expense • PC performance surpasses Graphics supercomputers • SGI RealityEngine (300k tris – 1993) • XBOX (150 mil tri/sec - 2001) • XBOX360 (500 mil tri/sec - 2005) • Large Volume Displays • VR Estimated $3.4 billion industry in 2005