Virtual reality: Disruptive or destructive?

If you dislike putting on those sticky, ill-fitting 3D glasses given out at movie theaters for watching 3D films, chances are you won’t be wildly excited about donning Virtual Reality (VR) goggles to take in a virtual reality experience. Besides, at first glance, VR headsets look more like wearables for obsessive gamers than for people who can’t live without their PlayStations.

Yet virtual reality (VR) is fast becoming today’s “it” technology. It is finding new and exciting applications — not just in entertainment, but a host of other industries such as tourism, real estate, health, education, media, fashion, design and so on. And it’s expected to grow bigger. According to a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs, the market for VR will be $60 billion by 2025, up from less than a $1 billion today.

India has begun to dip its toes into the technology, too. On October 24 the country’s first online virtual reality magazine, ElseVR (pronounced “Elsewhere”), was launched in Delhi with a set of three documentaries shot in the VR format. At the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI) festival last month, the promo for the sequel to S S Rajamouli’s monster hit, Bahubali, featured a VR spot enabling the audience to take a virtual tour of the film’s sets. Furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder is also experimenting with VR for their kitchen and decor solutions.

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Now watch 3D videos on smartphones without special eyewear

You could soon watch 3D videos on your smartphone without any special eyewear, thanks to scientists who have developed a way to make displays for small screen devices that offer both 2D and 3D imaging.

For eyewear-free displays, the only action is behind the screen where the image's pixels and optics are layered together to produce the stereoscopic effect.

The two primary ways of producing these optically illusive effects are by using either an array of micro-lenses, called lenticular lenses, or an array of micro-filters, called parallax barriers, in front of the image to make its appearance depend on the angle at which it is being seen.

The simplest example of this effect is found on a movie poster whose image appears to change as you walk by.

Two or more images are interlaced and printed behind a plastic layer with grooves matching the interlaced pattern.

The grooves act as distinct, interlaced arrays of lenses or filters, unveiling one image as you approach the poster and another as you depart.

In the case of 2D/3D convertible screens, these layers are active, meaning they can be switched on or off.

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