chap1- literature review（chap1——文献综述）（18页）.docVIP

Overview of Virtual Reality in Science and Engineering M Kasim A Jalil Department of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering University at Buffalo Virtual Reality (VR) involves development of a computer generated virtual environment intended to simulate the real world. It is an emerging computer visualization technology that allows users to experience a strong sense of reality in a computer-generated environment. Engineers have begun to realize the usefulness of VR as an innovative tool to visualize, manipulate, and interact with complex three-dimensional (3-D) graphical data that are difficult or even impossible to adequately understand in traditional two-dimensional (2-D) drawings or even 3-D solid models. This chapter highlights the recent developments and applications of VR in engineering and the sciences.  2.1 Definition of Virtual Reality (VR) The term Virtual Reality (VR) is used by many different people with as many different meanings. There are some to whom VR is a specific collection of technologies (i.e. Head Mounted Display, Glove Input Device and Audio Device). Others stretch the term to include movies, games, entertainment and imagination. Virtual Reality is a way for humans to visualize, manipulate and interact with extremely complex data in a variety of immersive environments. A computer is used to generate visual, auditory or other sensual outputs to the user. This data may encompass a CAD model, a scientific simulation, or a view into a database. The user can interact with the virtual world and directly manipulate objects within it. Some worlds are animated by other processes such as physical simulations or simple animation scripts. Interaction in an immersive environment is perhaps the most intriguing part of virtual reality. In conventional human-computer interaction, humans remain separated from the computer environment. In VR, humans are totally immersed in the visualization-based world. They have the ability to manipulate and interact with t