Virtual Reality Actually Feels Real When It Uses Physics
[Philip Lelyveld comment; Oculus Rift with Leap Motion allows you to pet a virtual dog. The Nintendo 3DS had a simpler version of this that let you pet a dog with a stylus 4 years ago.]
Midas Touch made this work by building software meant to properly mimic physics in virtual reality. In the case of the dog demo, for instance, it models the input device (my bare hands) as different bones that can collide with the dog. The dog, too, is modeled with 20 to 30 bones that have mass, shape, and friction, which can collide with my hands. When my hands move around, the software figures out how the two are striking each other and uses the force of that impact to figure out which muscles to tighten on the dog so it can keep its balance while I’m, say, pushing its legs.
Evan Suma, a research assistant professor who studies virtual reality at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Creative Technologies, agrees, saying that Midas Touch Games is getting at one of the key things needed for VR to give a sense of presence: the illusion of plausibility.
See the full story here: https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601618/virtual-reality-actually-feels-real-when-it-uses-physics/