How Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Differentiate from one Another
Technology keeps changing and we need to keep up with the changing algorithms. It has a way of making you look at the world differently with Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) playing a huge role. AR and VR are often used interchangeably, with a lot of people assuming it’s the same thing. They have certain similarities because they are both immersive technologies, but also bring a degree of confusion. Here, we highlight the common differences between AR and VR.
What is Augmented Reality?
Augmented Reality enhances your vision and creates a better version of the original image. It is an enormous technology trend that began in 2017 and is projected to increase as smartphones and other hand-held devices become more easily accessible across the world. With AR, you are able to view the world in front of you like children playing in the park, admitting a little enhancement. The perceptibility could be something like one of the children with a ball jumping over a spacecraft as they run with the ball.
AR incorporates both reality and the virtual world to create a magical image but at the same time, the user is able to differentiate between the real world and the virtual one. A common way that users engage in augmented reality is by using Snapchat and Instagram, where images are beautified and other effects are combined to create a magnificent version of the original image. This concept is also used in games like Pokemon GO, which uses your phone’s camera to give you additional information about your surroundings that you could have missed.
Virtual Reality
Unlike Augmented reality, Virtual Reality uses the power of technology to create a simulated environment that is totally different from the real world. It uses VR helmets or goggles to catapult a user into a different world making them feel like they are part of the environment inside the screen. It is an immersive technology in the sense that, instead of a user sitting in front of a screen to watch the happenings, they are immersed into the virtual reality world, and they feel as though they are completely part of the same.
Virtual Reality is commonly called the technology of the future because it seamlessly blends in with our daily lives; video games, the medical world, and even the education system have embraced VR, turning it into a technology that is here to stay. According to IDC Research (2018), it has the highest projected potential growth. The research determined that investment in VR and AR will multiply in the next four years, reaching 15.5 billion euros by 2022 accounting for the key role that it plays in the digital transformation of companies.
Difference Between Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
The Functionalities
AR enhances the appearance of an image to add digital information while VR allows you to view an image that is completely different from the one you see in reality. VR uses a simulated environment to create things and build scenarios, and images look real while they aren’t in an actual sense. AR uses real images to create an advanced version of the original.
The Experiences they give
The experiences that AR and VR give any user are distinctive in the sense that AR interacts with both the real and virtual worlds blends the two realities to create an enhanced one, and it is easy to identify what’s real and what’s not. VR is purely virtual and when you enter the virtual world, it becomes tricky to differentiate between what’s actually real and what’s not.
The Tools Used
The tools used when associating the two technologies vary. While AR uses a smartphone to achieve its goal, VR uses either a helmet or goggles to be able to transport you into the virtual world. AR is used in apps that are installed in smartphones, and also uses the camera on your gadget to give you a view of the world in front of you.
You can then enhance the original image by adding text or other desired layers of information. AR can also be used for fun like playing the Pokemon Go game. With VR, you have to wear goggles to be able to view it because you get into a different world than the one you are in. You also have the liberty to move your head in whichever direction you want to as if you are physically in that world.
AR Enhances the real World, VR is Immersive
Users of AR still keep in touch with the real world, as they interact with the objects enhanced on their smartphones. The physical environment of an AR user does not change, the user does not get isolated from reality. However, when using VR, a user is immersed into the virtual world, they lose complete touch with the real world around them, and feel like part of the world inside the screen the moment they wear the VR headsets or goggles.
AR and VR are not the same, but they cannot operate separately. They are part of each other and blend together to create an amazing user experience. They both provide a new dimension of the real and virtual world.
