Recently updated on November 19th, 2024 at 12:25 pm
Below is the VR dictionary or glossary that contains the list of terminology used widely in the Virtual Reality (VR) area and industry together with their definition and meaning. This is a growing list as we will keep updating the list from time to time. We try our best to explain using the layman terms as much as possible so you can understand the jargons used in this industry quickly and easily.
3 6 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
3
3D
It is a short form for “Three-Dimensional” and it refers to the spatial dimensions of width, height and depth.
6
6DOF (Six Degrees of Freedom)
This refers to the direction of the movement of an object in a three-dimensional (3D) space. The movement consists of forward/backward, right/left, up/down, pitch, roll and yaw.
A
Active Shutter 3D
It is a technique to display the 3D stereoscopic images by showing the left eye image and the right eye image alternately in a very fast manner.
Anaglyph
It is a method to create the illusion of three-dimensional image with depth perspective by combining the right-eye-view image and left-eye-view image in one single image.
Aperture
It is the opening through which light passes into the camera.
AR (Augmented Reality)
It is a technology or method to combine or integrate the virtual or digital objects with the live environment and real surrounding.
Avatar
It is a representation of the people or user in the virtual environment in the form of virtual figure, icon or character.
B
Bandwidth
It is the maximum amount of data that can be received by an internet or network user at a given amount of time. Usually, it is calculated in megabits per second (Mbps).
Byte
It is a unit of data that consists of eight bits. Most computers use it to represent a character such as a letter or number.
C
CAVE
It stands for “Cave Automatic Virtual Environment”. It is a virtual reality environment using projectors where they are directed to the walls of a room-sized cube.
Core
It is a small CPU or processor which is built into a big CPU or CPU socket. For example, a Quad-Core processor is a CPU that has four processing units in a single integrated circuit.
D
Data Glove
It is a type of glove embedded with sensors that can sense the movement of hands which can then be use to manipulate or move the objects in the virtual environment. Also known as wired glove.
DRAM
It stands for “Dynamic Random Access Memory” where it is a type of semiconductor memory that allows the processor to access any part of the memory directly without having to find it from the starting place. It is located close to the processor and enables faster access to the data than the storage media such as hard disk drives.
E
Extended Reality
Also known as XR, it refers to all real and virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables.
Eye Tracking
It is the capability to track and record the line of sight of the user.
F
FPS
FPS stands for “Frame Per Second“. It is a measure of the rate at which a game can produce and render frames.
FPS
FPS also can stands for “First-Person Shooter“. It is a type of game where the player experiencing the action directly through the eyes of the main character. Normally, the game is centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat.
FOV (Field of View)
It is the area or coverage that a person can see through their eyes or via optical device.
G
GB
GB stands for “Gigabyte“. It refers to the specific unit of data that is equivalent to about 1 billion bytes of data.
GPU
GPU stands for “Graphics Processing Unit“. It is a special electronic circuit with the main purpose to accelerate computer graphics, processing of the image and rendering 3D graphics.
H
Haptics
This is a kind of technology that focus on the sense of touch where it simulates the feeling of touching or having contact with the virtual objects by applying the vibrations, forces and motions to the body part of the users.
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
It is a technique used in imaging and photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity. So you can have greater contrast between light and dark.
High-Fidelity
It refers to the reproduction of sound or output that has high degree of faithfulness to the original.
HLG
HLG stands for “Hybrid Log Gamma“. It is an open-source standard HDR (High Dynamic Range) video format.
HMD (Head Mounted Display)
It is a device that you put or wear on your head which can display the virtual reality environment to your eyes.
Holography
It is a technique to display the three-dimensional objects that can be viewed correctly from any direction or angle hence giving the illusion that the objects are really there.
I
IAD
IAD stands for “Illumination Angle Design“. It referring to the mechanism that allow lenses to adjust the direction or spread of the light.
IPD
IPD stands for “Interpupillary Distance“. It is the distance between the centers of the pupils of the eyes. It is measured in milimeters.
iToF
iToF stands for “Indirect Time-of-Flight“. It is used to measure distance by collecting reflected light and discerning the phase shift between emitted and reflected light.
J
Jitter
It is the loss of transmitted data between network devices. It may cause your video streaming not looking smooth.
Judder
It refers to the perceived uneven or jerky video playback arising from movement of objects or edges or detail from one frame to the next.
K
Kilo
It is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by one thousand.
L
Latency
It is the time difference between the user physical action and the reflection of that action in the virtual environment. Also known as lag time.
LiDAR
LiDAR is a short form of “Light Detection and Ranging“. It is a type of scanner that emits a laser to more accurately measure distances of surrounding objects.
M
Mocap (Motion Capture)
It is a technique to record the actual movement of a person or object and then translate it to a digital form so that the information can be used in the virtual or digital environment. It is also known as motion tracking.
MR (Mixed Reality)
It is the merging of the virtual and real worlds where the physical and digital objects interact with each other in real time thus produce new environments and visualizations.
N
Neural Engine
It is a series of AI accelerators from Apple which is designed for machine learning. It accelerates machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. Furthermore, it offers tremendous speed, memory, and power advantages over the main CPU or GPU.
NPC
NPC stands for “Non-playable Character“. It refers to the character in the game that is not controlled by someone playing the game.
NPU
NPU stands for “Neural Processing Unit“. It is a type of chip that can performs AI tasks faster than GPUs and CPUs.
O
ODT (Omnidirectional Treadmill)
It is a special kind of treadmill device that can allows people to walk or move in any direction in the virtual environment.
OLED
OLED stands for “Organic Light-Emitting Diode“. It is a display technology where the light is produced by organic molecules. To add, the pixel in the display is made of material that glows when you hit it with electricity.
P
Pancake Lenses or Optics
It is the type of lenses that is flat, thin and short. The main purpose is to provide quality optics in a compact package.
Passthrough
It is a feature in VR headset or device where you can step out of your VR world to see your surroundings in real world.
Photogrammetry
This is a capability that allows the creation of 3D (three-dimensional) objects by using the 2D (two-dimensional) images.
Pixel
Pixel is a short form of “Picture Element“. It is the smallest element that can be manipulated by software or applications.
PPD
It stands for “Pixels per degree” and it refers to the number of pixels that are required to display one degree of visual angle on a screen or display.
PPI
PPI stands for “Pixels Per Inch“. It refers to the number of pixels contained within each inch of a digital image. Normally, the higher the value of PPI, the better the quality of the image.
PvE
PvE stands for “Player versus Environment“. It refers to the situation in a game where the player competes against the game world and the computer, not other players
PvP
PvE stands for “Player versus Player“. It refers to the situation in a game where the player’s main opponents that they will be facing are other humans.
Q
Quillustration
It is the animations and illustrations that are produced by using Oculus Quill application.
R
RGB
RGB stands for “Red, Green and Blue“. It refers to the color model used on the digital display screen.
RPG
RPG stands for “Role-Playing Game“. It refers to the type of game where players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting.
S
Screen-Door Effect
The fine lines separating pixels that is visible in the displayed image. You can see the visible gaps or space between pixels when viewing the screen or display very closely.
Simulation
It is a process or approach to mimic or imitate the real environment inside the virtual environment.
SLAM
SLAM stands for “Simultaneous Localization and Mapping“. It is a method used for device that lets you build a map and localize your device in that map at the same time. The SLAM algorithms allow the device to map out unknown environments.
Spatial Computing
It is the technology that allow us to interact with digital information while we are in the real or physical world.
Stereoscopic
It is a technique or method to enhance the three-dimensional (3D) viewing of a media such as image or video by introducing the illusion of depth to it.
T
Telepresence
It is a technology to mimic that you are present in the particular location although your physical body is at somewhere else.
U
UHD
UHD stands for “Ultra High Definition“. It refers to the display that can support the minimum resolution of 3840 × 2160. Normally, television has two types of UHD which are 4K UHD and 8K UHD.
USB
USB stands for “Universal Serial Bus”. It is a standard use in the industry that allows data exchange and delivery of power between many various types of electronics.
V
VE (Virtual Environment)
It is an environment which is created digitally using computer technology that can make the user feel like he or she is there. Furthermore, they can also explore and manipulate the objects in that digital world.
VR (Virtual Reality)
Virtual reality is a technology or method where people can feel and experience with their senses like they are really inside an artificial or simulated environment.
W
WebVR
It is an open specification that makes it possible to experience VR by using your browser.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is a short form of “Wireless Fidelity“. It is a wireless networking technology that allows devices such as computers, smart phones, wearables and other equipment (eg. printers and video cameras) to interface with the Internet.
X
XR
It is a short form for “Extended Reality“. It is the umbrella term that covers virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and other immersive technologies.
Y
Yaw
It refers to the rotation around the vertical axis or commonly known as “Y-Axis”.
Z
Zeotrope
It is a cylinder with vertical slits down the sides where the inside of the cylinder displays a set of sequenced images. When the cylinder is spins, it gives an illusion of motion of the images.
Lastly…
That is the list of VR dictionary & glossary so far from us. We will keep updating it from time to time.
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