Basics of Virtual Reality

Today, the reality we know can be recorded and reproduced true to reality using technical processes. Space and time are recreated virtually as a copy in artificial reality. However, the reproduction of virtual reality is not limited to a mere copy of what exists. A visitor to the virtual space does not have to be content with the pixelated image of the old familiar, but can encounter unreal phenomena in the illusory world that never existed in real life or are even physically impossible. This enables an expansion of the recorded reality and allows the perception of surprisingly new perspectives. A perspective denotes the perception of a fact from a certain point of view and corresponds to the way of looking at things. But a perspective is also the observation of a scene from a viewing position. From different perspectives the illusion of reality arises during the reproduction by observation. This vision is not based on imagination or hallucination, but is the basic function of virtual reality. This book describes the concepts, systems, and technologies used to create virtual reality from its ancient beginnings to the present, and provides a glimpse into a possible future.