REIMAGINING RELATIVITY Transitioning the physical body into a virtual inhabitant

Abstract

This paper explores the ideas and mechanics through a case study which generated a reimagined means of inhabiting a speculative immersive environment. Currently, many users reside within virtual environments for their own leisure, work, or any other reason desired from short amounts of time to extreme lengths. This paper shows the generation directly relative to the inhabitant, where gravity, orientation, scale, and locomotion is completely dynamic. Details within this paper experiment with the laws and bounds of the virtual space within a real-time game engine where reimagining the way one inhabits space compared to current norms of real-world inhabitation is possible with creativity and applied knowledge. Escher’s lithograph of Relativity is the driving concept explored within this paper beginning with creating gravitational pulls in multiple directions within the immersive virtual reality environment to accommodate various sources of gravity. The result of the case study demonstrated the generation of new virtual relativity laws reimagining how the virtual space is inhabited, in short, omnidirectional flying, gravitation defined by the inhabitant to geometry relationship, controlled local scaling, and populating space with multiple inhabitants in a unique manner.

The Fourth Virtual Dimension - Stimulating the Human Senses to Create Virtual Atmospheric Qualities

“…This device allowed the user to move freely within each scenario as the VIVE PRO is a wireless VR unit. Initially, locomotion was implemented through an HTC VIVE controller, utilising the default teleportation mechanism discussed in Rogers et al (2019b). However, Initial testing with the thermal system presented an issue where the user could not effectively sense heat through the hand holding the controller.…”

“…The research carried out in these author's respective fields are explorative and provide insights into the different ways that the human body can be directly engaged whilst in a virtual scenario. The publication 'Reimagining Relativity' (Rogers et al 2019b) highlights the importance of interconnected design processes when generating environmental inhabitation in VR. The reimagining of the body as a virtual inhabitant necessitates that VR systems must reproduce atmospheric qualities to create realistic virtual environments, and inherently virtual experiences (Rogers et al 2019b) (Figure 1).…”

“…The publication 'Reimagining Relativity' (Rogers et al 2019b) highlights the importance of interconnected design processes when generating environmental inhabitation in VR. The reimagining of the body as a virtual inhabitant necessitates that VR systems must reproduce atmospheric qualities to create realistic virtual environments, and inherently virtual experiences (Rogers et al 2019b) (Figure 1).…”