The real test will come when technology achieves a maturity that seriously attracts the entertainment industry. When applications are developed that will be presented for mass consumption--if, with such a singular medium, that is even practicable--it will be clear that if an aesthetic is missing, if no attempt has been made to perceive order, to clarify, intensify, and interpret the experience, no one will want to use it more than once. But it will probably be necessary for VR developers to develop a different route to clarity, intensity and interpretation.
The world-builder will need to recognize the four-dimensional
field as a description of the environment s/he is operating in,
but the principles s/he uses to structure it will have to
recognize that the bottom line for VR is to make the machine
invisible.
Special Effects
Others say SFX "alter" or "twist" reality, tweak the sense of wonder, create places and things from the imagination that do not otherwise exist, or that would be impossible to film.
My own, personal definition is that SFX are images of things that don't really exist, or that cannot be counted upon to occur on cue, including natural disasters, monsters, imaginary creatures and places, and action that otherwise would cause injury or death. And the new frontier of computer graphics is adding a dimension heretofore undreamed to SFX generally.
For many years special effects wizards in the film industry have created their make-believe by using freeze-frame or stop-action filming with rubber or clay models. There have been constant refinements on the technique--more lifelike models, computer- control of movement--but essentially, the process is the tradition.
Computer graphics were used successfully in films for spot effects and "morphing"--changing one image to another in a smooth, blending motion, and then Industrial Light and Magic created the exemplar of computer graphics for the future in the film Jurassic Park. Using Macs and Silicongraph workstations, and with their own software development that makes skin move, and muscles bulge, the sfx-ers recreated extinct characters that are so real they scared everyone thoroughly; ground has been broken for computer graphics for all time to come. (Moseley, 91)
Dennis Muren, of ILM, noted that special effects are still 70% models and 30% computer graphics; movie makers still need full- sized props for actors to interact with. What should make the model makers nervous is the performance possible from the graphical construct. Digitized creatures are capable of dimensions of expression and movement not possible to rubber models. (Moseley, 92)
Peter Britton has called this the "dawning of the digital age" (Britton, 87)"Someday soon, it will be possible to make entire feature movies in one large room...With CGI [computer graphic imaging] power, you could scan in 3D digital, blue screen your actors, drop in a matte painted background, morph a bit here and there, and do your rendering and digital compositing all in one room. People would swear that it was a bona fide big Hollywood production." (Scott Billups, film maker, in Britton, 86) He projects the use of "vactors", or virtual actors--computer constructs that little girls can have crushes on. An enhanced Stallone, for example, or non-cartoon super heroes that are not tied to earthly physical laws, but look like they should be. And no wires to erase later.
Even as we speak, Thalmann, Zeltzer and Johnson are writing programs for virtual actors, both guided and autonomous, to help teach motor skills; Nadia Thalmann is tailoring clothes for them. (MacDonald & Vince, 205-255)
I envision CG as an integral factor in films in the next several
years; effects will become more and more elaborate as SFX people
try to go one further than the last one. And putting the images
in the computer is, of course, a natural segue to computer-
created environments.
What are SFX for VR?
So what are special effects in relation to VR, which is a major
SFX in and of itself? Since the environment itself does not
actually exist and everything in it is the product of a computer
program, does the sudden appearance of a dragon during an
architectural walk-through constitute a special effect?
A major test would be to determine the purpose; then it comes back to the interface. If the VR application is trying to teach someone to do something, i.e., a flight simulator, the act of flying through a nearly lifelike skyscape in order to learn the skill would not be considered a special effect; having the instruments and the environment of the cockpit behave as though they were actually dealing with gravity, high speeds, loops and rolls, however, might.
In a gaming environment, the presence of dragons or other fantastic beasts, or the abrupt appearance of life-threatening hazards is expected; based on the definitions above, they could be considered special effects, but only if they are convincing. Otherwise they may simply be symbolic representations.
As noted above, computer graphics represent the next great surge in cinema technology. And, as noted above, the amount of memory required to integrate really life-like computer animation into a virtual environment would slow the action, and create lags and paradoxes beyond number. Where immense storage capabilities and super-high speeds are available, the special effects can become more complex, and more intense--but probably not in the games arcade at the Mall. Not just yet.
Again, use becomes the issue. What are you trying to do? Frighten? Inspire? Titillate? Teach? Do you need a dragon, or will the great special effect that is VR stand by itself?