Intelligent Realities For Workers Using Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Beyond
reality can be rendered on an AR
stereoscopic HMD, a flat screen, or a fully
immersive VR HMD. Unless specifically
qualified, the term VR takes the meaning of
a virtualization of a reality and does not
assume the target device.
Starting on the right, in Figure 3, is the
general concept of reality drawn to include
both physical and abstract realities. A
machine is a physical reality, while the
supply chain that created that machine is an
abstract reality derived from data – a data
reality. At the most abstract, data realities
can be completely de-coupled from any
physical reality. For example, large volumes
of live streaming data from a commodities
market could be used to form a data reality
which a user could explore in VR.
The Base Software Layers Across the
Reality-Virtuality Continuum
Reality applications of any type, including
games as well as industrial applications, rest
atop lower level software layers that have
emerged to solve the different problems
described here:
The left side combines the three main
concepts of augmented reality, mixed reality
and virtual reality. Due to the see-through
nature of AR devices, proximate physical
reality is always part of an AR experience.
But an implementor may choose to use a
mixed reality device to satisfy a use case that
has nothing to do with the proximate
physical reality – for example, rendering a 3D
model of a supply chain independently. They
may make this choice because users prefer
mixed reality over virtual reality because
being aware of physical surroundings is more
comfortable. Thus, mixed reality could be
effectively remote or local.
Gaming Engines for Dynamic and
Interactive 3D Models
Many developers use gaming engines like
Unity and Unreal to develop these models as
well as output the executable application. 14
These development tools can output
applications across many platforms,
including AR and VR HMDs, smart phones,
tablets and PCs, which can communicate
over networks with servers and other
applications. Amazon Sumerian is a web-
based alternative that gives developers an
easier but more limited alternative to
gaming engines. 15
VR tends to mean a fully immersive
experience with an HMD. But a VR asset
could be rendered in MR or on a flat screen.
This article has not taken on the trouble of
constantly restating that a virtualization of
The gaming engines can import 3D models
from other sources, including tools such as
Autodesk ® Maya™ that are focused on
original 3D content creation by artists as well
14
W. Wise, “How to pick the right authoring tools for VR and AR,” O’Reilly On Our Radar, October 2017. Available:
https://www.oreilly.com/ideas/how-to-pick-the-right-authoring-tools-for-vr-and-ar
15
R. Marvin, “Inside Sumerian, Amazon's Big Bet on Augmented and Virtual Reality,” PC Magazine, April 2018. Available:
https://www.pcmag.com/feature/360323/inside-sumerian-amazon-s-big-bet-on-augmented-and-virtual-re
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