A visitor plays a game on a PlayStation VR at the Paris Games Week, a trade fair for video games in Paris, France, October 28, 2015. Paris Games week will run from October 28 to November 1, 2015. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier - RTX1TND2
When it comes to looking at futuristic technology one of the first visualizations that pop into most people’s heads would be flying cars followed by robots carrying out our every command, and virtual reality headsets that allow us to fully control every aspect of our lives.
The scary thing is we’re not to far from making this a reality. Whilst flying cars is out of the question for another few years (just imagine retaking your driving test at an altitude of 30,000 feet) Artificial Intelligence robots have already been produced by tech companies and virtual reality is going to kick off this year with the introduction of Oculus Rift and Sony’s Playstation 4-VR.
This is a huge step forward. Not just in the world of technology but for life in general. The headsets themselves have many other uses. Here are four other uses for virtual reality headsets.
Medicine
In January doctors used Google Cardboard headset to save a baby’s life. The 2D images of the four month old didn’t give the doctors enough to go on. However a 3D rendering allowed them to literally look at it from several angles and proceed with the heart surgery.
Architecture
Imagine walking through a design that you yourself constructed. A 3D rendering on a screen can only show you so much. But a New York company (Iris Vr) have took the next step and put their clients right in the middle of the action. Allowing them to walk through their designs to help get a sense of the scale and size of their project.
3D Painting
From a design point of view this is the most exciting. The ability to paint in a 3D space is something that ex-Disney animator Glen Keane is currently doing. Using Google’s tilt brush he has created a 3d scene from The Little Mermaid. It won’t be long before Disney themselves turn this into an attraction. Just imagine being able to interact with your favourite Disney/Pixar characters in their fantasy world next time you visit Disneyland.
Holidays
A number of travel agencies are looking to embrace the idea of giving their customers a preview of what they can expect from their holidays. As expected the initial experience won’t be as realistic as the real thing but as time goes on it could spell the end of going on an actual holiday.
It may be early days but already the VR headsets have started to show their practicality in many different areas. Although created primarily for the use of gaming they have shown just how versatile a technology they can be.
Hakim Shujaee is a Creative Thinker and Designer at Happy Creative, a full service marketing and creative agency based in Blackpool, Lancashire. To learn more or contact us please go to www.happy-creative.co.uk
