Definitions of VR, AR, MR, and XR
We all see things in 3D. And over the years, technology has been advancing to make everything, even ideas, and concepts, adopt the same perspective. It was first achieved in the movies, and now, technological gurus are looking into making it a real-world ordeal.
Recently, professionals were graced with three very innovative tech- VR, AR, MR, and now XR. These four stands for, virtual, augmented, mixed, and extended realities.
How do they work?
VR-Virtual Reality
Virtual reality is usually associated with special headsets that allow you to access a completely different reality. With virtual reality, you may be static in one position and be moving in the virtual world. It is entirely visually stimulated, and you have no interaction with your reality except through vision.
AR-Augmented Reality
Augmented reality is the virtually laying of virtual content in the real world. It is typically used in mobile devices where it superimposes virtual objects within the real world. The game Pokémon Go is a perfect example of such an app. With AR, you get to move and interact with the virtual reality world physically. There is an added interaction adding the ability to move. But you cannot change anything in this reality.
MR- Mixed Reality
Then there is MR, mixed reality. It is similar to AR, but it allows you to interact with the objects overlaid in the real world. It will enable you to move things around and even remove them. You see, move, and interact with the virtual world. MR can be a completely made-up world or emulate your surrounding as it is.
XR- Extended Reality
Lastly, there is XR, extended reality. XR is when all the three are integrated and build it into one reality. So with XR, you get into a virtual reality overlaid into the real world; you get to interact with the content displayed in your actual environment. You get to see it, move through it, interact with reality, and even move things around.
The significant difference is having the ability to modify almost everything about the newly integrated virtual reality into your space.
Industrial professionals that can use XR in their creative process
Engineers
As an engineer, you will enjoy what XR will bring forth. It helps you create, assemble, and even test your experiments without wasting any resources. XR allows you to calibrate every aspect of a prototype or test object, ensuring a reduction in the margin of error in the final product.
It also comes in to help a developer present his ideas to potential investors and the engineering community at large. Seeing is believing, so much so, extended reality. He has given presentation a whole new meaning to show that the idea world both in paper and in practice through the model pitch presentations.
Fashion designers
Whether in the business of clothes or shoes, as a fashion designer, you want to have that freedom to move things around and change them up; XR helps you do precisely that. You can choose the color, modify the design, and move items around until they get what they want.
XR can even help you visualize a whole runway fashion show from beginning to end without breaking a sweat. Today, several virtual fashion stores display a designer’s creation at its best. XR also aids learning and training sessions.
Industrialists in manufacturing and assembling
As an industrialist in these two sectors, you can significantly benefit from XR as you can view defects even before they occur. XR helps to get the actual measurements of a component and even get a solution to fix a fault before the object is assembled. This can be used in car assembly and even the assembly of massive machinery with tiny parts. It ensures everything is in place before the process begins.
Real estate agents
With XR, a real estate agent has the privilege to help a potential customer to view the possibilities space can offer and even make changes they would love personally. For instance, if shown a room through XR, a client may use the tools to design the space placing things they like and see how the room could turn out to be.
Even taking a few steps back, real estate developers could engage architects to formulate XR models of establishments before construction even begins. The era of 2D blueprints is seeing a revolution where now the homeowner will be able to view their home and even get to visualize its final appearance. This tech will ensure that the builders do a fine job. Any fixes are done during these first stages of evaluation.
Take away
When these technologies graced the market individually, they turned heads and revolutionized so many industries. The four concepts came to form one, and that that came to life is XR, and as seen, it has brought so much greatness to humanity, and several professionals can attest it to a revolutionary advance. We can all just wait and see where this technology will take us. It is, for sure, just a matter of time. Extended reality