What's the difference between VR and AR?

In essence, VR and AR are interlinked. If you want to give a unified definition, you can describe it like this:

It is an experience that users feel by constructing three-dimensional scenes through computer technology and using special equipment, and supports interactive operation.

From the definition, we can see that VR and AR have at least two characteristics, namely "3D" and "interaction". Without any of them, it can't be called real VR or AR. This is why some scholars regard VR and AR as one.

VR and AR have different application trends.

Why do all domestic industry reports feel completely different about the definitions of VR and AR? Even foreign institutions will divide VR and AR when evaluating related markets.

This is because VR and AR use different technologies to build 3D scenes and their display devices, which bring different experiences to users and eventually lead them to different application directions. Please refer to the following table:

We believe that because animation rendering technology can show all human imagination, VR tends to be illusory and emotional in application direction, and it is easier to be applied to entertainment direction (in order to better achieve this goal, VR emphasizes the sense of existence or presence); The technology based on optics +3D reconstruction mainly reproduces the real world, so AR tends to be real and rational, and it is easier to be applied in more serious directions, such as work and training (in order to better achieve this goal, AR emphasizes the integration of reality and virtual).

But this does not mean that VR is not suitable for training. In fact, VR can bring more elements to training, such as the simulation of natural and man-made disasters and major accidents; AR is more used in routine training. Google Glass has tried to superimpose the flame effect on the real scene, but this obviously cannot be taken seriously by users; Wearing a VR helmet makes it easier for users to enter the role.

For developers, the development work for VR and AR is also very different.

The reason for the small angle of view of AR

Most people think that it is very simple for AR to reproduce the scene through optics. In fact, a good AR is a very complicated task, which requires a computer to reconstruct the scene, identify the scene information, and express the preset virtual elements in a suitable position. If we want to support interaction, there are higher requirements for the amount of operation and the results of operation. If AR is to achieve the effect of complete immersion, its computational complexity will be even greater, which is far from being satisfied by the performance of the mobile terminal alone. Therefore, at this stage, we can only reduce the supported scene size-this is also the main reason why devices such as Google Glass and even Microsoft HoloLens(MR) have small vision.