Introduction Virtual Reality is a rapidly expanding field of computing that, until recently, has been beyond the capabilities of desktop computers. By modeling places or objects, real or imagined, under construction or complete, near or far away, virtual reality helps people to visualize new places and manipulate tools that were previously unavailable. Uses range from tours of faraway or planned buildings or aiding in the visualization of information and complex data sets to more specialized applications such as modeling molecules or plotting maps of star clusters.
Virtual reality immerses users in information safely, cheaply, and quickly.
Virtual Reality has two main components. The first is the model which can be presented as a metaphor, such as the visualization and manipulation of pharmacological molecules, or as realism, such as exploring the bottom of the sea. For example, users are not limited to looking at a chemical equation, they can actually watch the chemical reaction of three-dimensional molecules. The model allows users a degree of freedom of movement within it. The more the interface resembles reality, the better the virtual reality simulation.