| Summary: | Virtual reality is a technology rapidly gaining interest from research and commercial
groups around the world, but it's introduction into New Zealand has been slow. The
majority of the general public have no concept of virtual reality, and only a few research
institutes have begun virtual reality programmes of any sort.
Partially this is due to the high cost of 'off the shelf' virtual reality systems, which
is usually beyond the range of many organisations. Also the complexity of the software
and the knowledge required to create and manipulate this software makes it a daunting
prospect for many.
This work describes the development of an economical system for the demonstration
of virtual reality and some of its concepts and applications to the general public, in
the form of an educational science centre exhibit. The system creates virtual musical
instruments, overlayed onto the real world, and the user experiences these instruments
as if they were in physical existence.
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