Virtual reality applications
Virtual reality applications are applications that make use of virtual reality (VR), an immersive sensory experience that digitally simulates a virtual environment. Applications have been developed in a variety of domains, such as education, architectural and urban design, digital marketing and activism, engineering and robotics, entertainment, virtual communities, fine arts, healthcare and clinical therapies, heritage and archaeology, occupational safety, social science and psychology. Architecture and urban design One of the first recorded uses of virtual reality in architecture was in the late 1990s when the University of North Carolina virtually modeled Sitterman Hall, home of its computer science department. Designers wore a headset and used a hand controller to simulate moving around a virtual space. With an Autodesk Revit model they could "walk through" a schematic. VR enables architects to better understand the details of a project such as the transition of materials, sightlines, or visual displays of wall stress, wind loads, solar heat gain, or other engineering factors. By 2010, VR programs had been developed for urban regeneration, planning and transportation projects. Entire cities were simulated in VR. Industrial design Virtual reality and artificial intelligence are used by automotive firms like Porsche and BMW to optimize their production chain.