A Survey of Some Virtual Reality Tools and Resources

Virtual Reality (VR) technology enables users to interact with three-dimensional data, providing a potentially powerful interface to both static and dynamic information (Ausburn & Ausburn, 2003; Ausburn & Ausburn, 2004; Baieier, 1993; Onyesolu, 2011; Onyesolu & Eze, 2011). VR has existed in various forms since its inception. It has been known by names such as synthetic environment, cyberspace, artificial reality, simulator technology and so on and so forth before VR was eventually adopted (Onyesolu, 2006; Onyesolu & Eze, 2011). Though VR has existed from the late 1960s, its latest manifestation, desktop screen-based semiimmersive type which made its first appearance in entertainment industry, has made it come within the realm of possibility for general creation and use. As a result of proliferation of desktop VR, the technology has continued to develop applications that are less than fully immersive. These non-immersive VR applications are far less expensive and technically daunting and have made inroads into industry training and development.

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