wwp@yahoogroups.com:
What is VR going to be called by the General Public.
mark1schuster 2005-Jan-21 23:33:00
I've been following the discussion about what to call ? well until
we find something better to call it ? VR with interest.
I'm a novice panographer and I am astounded by the quality and
technical excellence of Group members work. Their images are
fascinating and I can spend hours viewing them, but one thing they
ain't is "virtual reality". No more is a Constable or Turner
landscape hanging in the National Gallery. I am therefore not a
detractor when I object to calling them VR..
So what is "virtual reality"? Something that gives the impression
of experiencing an actual event, even though the event is a fiction
or recording. I'll give an example. As a child I was taken to the
cinema to see a "3D" movie. Wearing red and green glasses, sitting
in the front row, I was taken on a virtual roller coaster ride. A
white knuckle ride and the screams as we dived towards the ground
weren't virtual. They were real. It was truly scary. It was
truly "virtual reality". The impression was that I was actually
there, riding the Big Dipper.
Compare that with viewing a panorama on a flat screen armed with a
mouse and tell me honestly if that is virtual reality in reality.
Daz said it washed whiter than white. It was a catchy selling
point, but a nonsense, nonetheless. A catch phrase just like Quick
Time's VR. Through usage it is becoming ? maybe has become ?
acceptable. But this doesn't make it right, and perhaps this group
with its world wide influence can put things right.
No Landis, it's not "immersive photography", but you have already
dismissed that one.
Since we guide the panorama around the screen with a mouse, what
about "steerable panography"
Perhaps "steerable panorama" wouldn't be all that bad a name.
As to descriptions for different degrees of projection, what
about "full spherical panorama", "full circular panorama"
and "partial panorama"? But Landis, not "panoramic". That's an
adjective. (Yes I know that many spherical panoramas are actually
projected onto the inside of a cube, but to the viewer, they are
spherical).
I'm sure many of you have as good, or better suggestions, but let us
drop VR.
Mark
PS - Is panographer a general term, or did I just make it up.
msWord checker doesn't recognize it, but I won't tell you what it
offers as an alternative. Could land us all in jail.