V-Rtifacts: When Virtual Reality Was Always Virtual

Low Cost VR For The Virtual Hacker

Head Mounted Displays, How-To; Teardowns; Tutorials

From 1993: "Now you can go to Radio Shack, buy what you need, and build it yourself." Robert Suding and the Virtual Reality Special Report provide specific instructions for building a stereoscopic HMD for $435. Interestingly the optics and...

Yea, though he has walked through the Valley of Silicon, he fears no evil. Jaron Lanier’s rebound…

And All That Hype, Game Systems, Head Mounted Displays, VR Companies

"Inside Jaron Lanier is a precocious eight-year-old who got together with some friends and built a spaceship," wrote Howard Rheingold in his 1991 book, Virtual Reality, the definitive history of VR to date. "Now he wants us all to take a ride...

Psychedelics and the Creation of Virtual Reality

And All That Hype, Around the World, Where Are They Now?

VR pioneer, Mark Pesce discusses the relationship between Virtual Reality and psychedelic substances. MAPS: Do you ever use psychedelics for problem-solving tasks? Where you have a specific question in mind, and then you take psychedelics in...

Remix

And All That Hype, Around the World

"Don't shade your eyes; plagiarize!" (Tom Lehrer) Why VRtifacts matters. https://vimeo.com/25380454 "I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten or even...

MRG 2.2 In The Movies

And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, In the Movies

From the 1995 made for TV B movie Evolver, check out their head mounted display of choice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb09abgOno8

How To Make VR “Real” – Advice From 1991

And All That Hype, VR Companies, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?

I wrote this for a 1991 Meckler conference presentation. Still smiling at my naivete! It's tough trying to manage one of these businesses. Every time one of my vendors/bankers/landlord/ etc., asks what we do, and I say "Virtual Reality," their eyes...

Vuzix Wrap 920 Augmented Reality Hands On

Around the World, Head Mounted Displays, Stereoscopic 3D, VR Companies

Virtual Research VR-4 Adapted For Stereoscopic Augmented Reality - circa 1993

Flashback To The ’40s

And All That Hype, In the Movies, On TV, Stereoscopic 3D, VR Companies

We all know that the 1950's were the golden age of 3D movies, Hollywood's attempt to fend off the rapidly growing television audience. Their 3D thrust was short lived, and with a few exceptions, we enjoyed almost 50 years of 2D bliss. This time around 3D...

Back In The Day – Japan 1990

Around the World, Head Mounted Displays, On TV

Based on a mix of US and Japanese technology, this brief news segment shows a vibrant VR community in 1990 Japan. There's gloves and HMDs from VPL, although the LCD displays inside the helmet are from Sony Japan. There's also a nice augmented reality...

Night vision goggles of Red Army!

Around the World, Head Mounted Displays, Stereoscopic 3D, Where Are They Now?

Suddenly, I found the information that USSR army, just before World War 2 developed electronic head-mounted infra-red night-vision goggles for tank crew! It is not exactly a virtual reality subject, but nevertheless it's early days of...

A Day In The Life

And All That Hype, Head Mounted Displays, VR Publications, Where Are They Now?

Scenes from a typical day in the virtual world of tomorrow: You wake up and attend to your daily bathroom rituals, which unfortunately will never be replaced by any virtual reality process... Thus, after your real world morning ceremonies are...

Why Big Helmets Still Rule

Head Mounted Displays, Stereoscopic 3D

Size matters! If you ask the manufacturers of Head Mounted Displays over the past 15 years, they would echo that mantra, but it's SMALL size that they're boasting. Indeed, those tiny little eye glasses size VR displays look cool (from the...