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Virtual reality is an area of technology that is getting a lot of attention right now.
Pieces of hardware like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive are creating immersive experiences that create the impression users have stepped into virtual worlds.
But what if there was a way to make it look like you were in fact still in the real world? Start-up Lytro think they might have the answer.
Lytro Immerge – World’s First Professional Light Field Solution for Cinematic VR
The technology at the centre of all this is Lytro’s concept of Light Field imaging; which enables photographers to change the focus of an image after it has been taken. They are now applying this idea to virtual reality, and the result is essentially the creation of ‘live action’ virtual reality.
It’s thanks to their spherical camera, the Immerge, which as the video explains, is able to capture every single aspect of the natural light in an image or video, as well as the volume of it, where it comes from, and the angle at which it hits a surface.
What this means is that the camera has enough data to then generate virtual views from pretty much any angle in that scene – and accurately recreate the lighting throughout. The Immerge is essentially able to combine live action and computer graphics to create realistic experiences.
That means potentially as-near-as-makes-no-difference levels of realism being introduced to a technology platform that was already doing quite well on the immersion side of things.
So in the future if you can’t afford to go on holiday, you might be able to put on your VR headset and get the same effect.
