Virtual Reality

*:* Virtual Reality *:*

Nowadays computer graphics is used in many domains of our life. At the end of the 20th century it is difficult to imagine an architect, engineer, or interior designer working without a graphics workstation. At the beginning of 1990s the development in the field of virtual reality became much more stormy and the term Virtual Reality itself became extremely popular. Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. On a computer, virtual reality is primarily experienced through two of the five senses: sight and sound. The definition of virtual reality comes, naturally, from the definitions for both ‘virtual’ and ‘reality’. The definition of ‘virtual’ is near and reality is what we experience as human beings. So the term ‘virtual reality’ basically means ‘near-reality’. This could, of course, mean anything but it usually refers to a specific type of reality emulation.

Virtual reality can be divided into:

• The simulation of a real environment for training and education.
• The development of an imagined environment for a game or interactive story.