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The father of virtual reality explains its dazzling possibilities by reflecting on his own lifelong relationship with technology

Bridging the gap between tech mania and the experience of being inside the human body, Dawn of the New Everything is a look at what it means to be human at a moment of unprecedented technological possibility.

Through a fascinating look back over his life in technology, Jaron Lanier, an interdisciplinary scientist and father of the term “virtual reality,” exposes VR’s ability to illuminate and amplify our understanding of our species, and gives readers a new perspective on how the brain and body connect to the world. An inventive blend of autobiography, science writing, philosophy and advice, this book tells the wild story of his personal and professional life as a scientist, from his childhood in the UFO territory of New Mexico, to the loss of his mother, the founding of the first start-up, and finally becoming a world-renowned technological guru.

Understanding virtual reality as being both a scientific and cultural adventure, Lanier demonstrates it to be a humanistic setting for technology. While his previous books offered a more critical view of social media and other manifestations of technology, in this book he argues that virtual reality can actually make our lives richer and fuller.

• The VR Book Human Centered Design for Virtual Reality

• Practical Augmented Reality A Guide to the Technologies Applications and Human Factors for AR and VR Usability

Explore the world of Virtual Reality by building immersive and fun VR projects using Unity 3D

About This Book

• Learn the basic principles of virtual reality applications and get to know how they differ from games and desktop apps
• Build various types of VR experiences, including diorama, first-person characters, riding on rails, 360 degree projections, and social VR
• A project-based guide that teaches you to use Unity to develop VR applications, which can be experienced with devices such as the Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard

Who This Book Is For

If you're a non-programmer unfamiliar with 3D computer graphics, or experienced in both but new to virtual reality, and are interested in building your own VR games or applications then this book is for you. Any experience in Unity is an advantage.

What You Will Learn

• Create 3D scenes with Unity and Blender while learning about world space and scale
• Build and run VR applications for consumer headsets including Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard
• Build interactive environments with physics, gravity, animations, and lighting using the Unity engine
• Experiment with various user interface (UI) techniques that you can use in your VR applications
• Implement the first-person and third-person experiences that use only head motion gestures for input
• Create animated walkthroughs, use 360-degree media, and build multi-user social VR experiences
• Learn about the technology and psychology of VR including rendering, performance and VR motion sickness
• Gain introductory and advanced experience in Unity programming with the C# language

In Detail

What is consumer “virtual reality”? Wearing a head-mounted display you view stereoscopic 3D scenes. You can look around by moving your head, and walk around using hand controls or motion sensors. You are engaged in a fully immersive experience. On the other hand, Unity is a powerful game development engine that provides a rich set of features such as visual lighting, materials, physics, audio, special effects, and animation for creating 2D and 3D games. Unity 5 has become the leading platform for building virtual reality games, applications and experiences for this new generation of consumer VR devices.

Using a practical and project-based approach, this book will educate you about the specifics of virtual reality development in Unity.

You will learn how to use Unity to develop VR applications which can be experienced with devices such as the Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard. We will then learn how to engage with virtual worlds from a third person and first person character point of view. Furthermore, you will explore the technical considerations especially important and possibly unique to VR. The projects in the book will demonstrate how to build a variety of VR experiences. You will be diving into the Unity 3D game engine via the interactive Unity Editor as well as C-Sharp programming.

By the end of the book, you will be equipped to develop rich, interactive virtual reality experiences using Unity.

So, let's get to it!

Style and approach

This book takes a practical, project-based approach to teach specifics of virtual reality development in Unity. Using a reader-friendly approach, this book will not only provide detailed step-by-step instructions but also discuss the broader context and applications covered within.

Storytelling for Virtual Reality serves as a bridge between students of new media and professionals working between the emerging world of VR technology and the art form of classical storytelling. Rather than examining purely the technical, the text focuses on the narrative and how stories can best be structured, created, and then told in virtual immersive spaces. Author John Bucher examines the timeless principles of storytelling and how they are being applied, transformed, and transcended in Virtual Reality. Interviews, conversations, and case studies with both pioneers and innovators in VR storytelling are featured, including  industry leaders at LucasFilm, 20th Century Fox, Oculus, Insomniac Games, and Google.

For more information about story, Virtual Reality, this book, and its author, please visit StorytellingforVR.com

• O Reilly Media

• An Introduction To Virtual Reality
• VR Through Time - The History And Growth Of Virtual Reality
• Getting Started With VR - What You'll Need To Get Going
• The Science of VR
• Trends In The VR Industry
• Google Cardboard Explored
• Sony PlayStation VR Explored
• HTC Vive Explored
• Oculus Rift Explored
• Samsung Gear VR Explored
• Bonus: Google Daydream View Explored
• VR And Beyond!
• 2016+ Verdict
• The Next Big Thing
• And Much, Much More!

• Infinite Reality Avatars Eternal Life Universal Consciousness and the Dawn of the Virtual Age

“Enough with speculation about our digital future. Infinite Reality is the straight dope on what is and isn’t happening to us right now, from two of the only scientists working on the boundaries between real life and its virtual extensions.”
—Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed

How achievable are the virtual experiences seen in The Matrix, Tron, and James Cameron’s Avatar? Do our brains know where “reality” ends and “virtual” begins? In Infinite Reality, Jim Blascovich and Jeremy Bailenson, two pioneering experts in the field of virtual reality, reveal how the human brain behaves in virtual environments and examine where radical new developments in digital technology will lead us in five, fifty, and five hundred years.

This book takes a hands-on approach to getting up and running with virtual reality using the Unity game engine. By utilizing the free SteamVR libraries, the book and its example code is compatible with the main virtual reality head mounted displays currently available. The book also takes a look at some of the main issues surrounding virtual reality, such as motion sickness and performance issues, and providing practical ways to reduce their impact to make better VR experiences.