Class in the innovation lab was the first time I had fully experienced virtual reality. My group was assigned to the Google Cardboard first. Not expecting much from an inexpensive kit, I ended up being very impressed. For just an app on a smart phone, the Trayvon Martin experience was more detailed and well put together than I would have thought. Having said that however, I never felt the full “I was there” sensation with the Google Cardboard, but I certainly felt more than if I was watching something on the TV.

The Trayvon Martin experience did a great job utilizing VR to tell a story. I found myself roaming around the various scenes just engaged in not only the experience, but the story as well. The scene as a whole was meant more to be about the story rather than the visuals, but it was a great example of how VR could be used by the news media in the future.

I only saw the Trayvon Martin experience, but two of my group members viewed the LSD simulation. You could tell that this scene was much more visually intense making them to be more immersed in it. By the end, this scene seemed to have the most physical or intense effect out of all the scenes we had tried.

Lastly, I experienced the International Space Station with the Samsung kit. This scene put me in awe. I was heavily engaged in this VR world for just 20-30 seconds looking at everything around me. At one point I basically got goosebumps looking down at the earth below me. The power of the Samsung kit was very impressive.

As I said before, the best aspect of the International Space Station scene were the visuals. Rather than telling a story, the scene gave you everything to look at yourself.

How does the following affect the experience?

1. Screen Resolution

The International Space Station scene on the Samsung was very good quality in terms of resolution compared to the Trayvon Martin Experience on the Cardboard. The resolution certainly influences how you experience a VR because of the realism effect that higher resolution makes.

2. Sound, especially 3D sound that moves with your head

The only sound I had experienced was on the Cardboard. It was very cool to see the voices acted with your head movement making the scene more realistic. However, even without sound on the International Space Station scene, I was still able to engage myself in the scene.

3. Smoothness of head tracking

Both the Cardboard and the Samsung did a great job of head tracking in their scenes. Smooth head tracking makes the VR scene feel more real.

4. Ability to lean forward (only on DK2)

I was unable to try this feature, however it certainly seems as if it would affect the experience in a great way by just incorporating more body movement into the scene.

5. Wired versus Wireless

Both the experiences I had were wireless. Wireless certainly has advantages when it comes to involving more movement in a certain VR scene compared to wired. However until VR headsets experiences become more mobile, I don’t think wires affect the experience a whole lot.

6. Quality of 3D Graphics

This plays a huge role in a scene. The ISS scene felt far more realistic than the Trayvon Martin experience heavily because of the graphics quality. It’s the same as it is for video games, the higher quality graphic games are going to feel more realistic than the others.

7. Full Spherical range of vision

This is what I enjoyed most about the experience. Having the ability to view everything around you is what I think is the best part about VR. In both the Trayvon Martin and ISS scenes, I was constantly just looking down, up, and all around me.

https://share.oculus.com/app/deep-space-vr

After having loved do the ISS scene, I think it would be really cool to do a more in depth space experience.