Hyper Realism: Totally Necessary or a Total Money Pit?

If you’ve started looking into the possibilities that VR, AR, or MR (virtual, augmented, or mixed reality) applications for your business, you’ve probably run into the battle surrounding REALISM.

And if you haven’t, take my word for it: it’s a battle.

The differences between hyper-realistic (as in, “really really real”) and NOT very realistic virtual experiences is huge — and not just visually. There’s a LOT of money and time wrapped up in the decision of how “real” you want a XR experience to be.

So, let’s talk it through. Because as you might expect, the answer isn’t so cut and dry.

First, a few notes on the technical stuff.

Hyper-realism describes the huge jump in creators’ ability to create outrageously immersive environments in virtual reality. Industry standards have skyrocketed so high that we all had to add the “hyper-” to keep up.

It’s not just detailed visuals, either — because these aren’t passive environments we’re creating. The jump to hyper-realistic environments includes the physics, the use of space and layers, the possibility to interact with different elements, and even the way that audio is delivered and spatially accurate.

Here’s the craziest part, which is also foundational for our conversation:

the added “hyper-” won’t last that long — our scales will break again.

The hyper-realism of today is going to be much different than in 10 years! We are finally at the point where users can feel totally immersed, and even start unconsciously questioning whether an animation or 3D model is from something in real life or programmatically created.

But it’s all peanuts compared to where we’ll be in a decade.

So hyper-realism is obviously great… so why wouldn’t we just always aim for the most hyper-realistic environments possible?

Well, it’s also hyper-costly.

• It takes a very long time to create hyper-realistic 3D models.
• Most headsets and mobile phones can’t always keep up with hyper-realistic 3D models, because they’re too high in polycount and texture resolution.
• Any amount of time spent working on the product means delayed time to market and more sunk costs paying personnel.

That’s the whole tension that you, as the business owner or leader, are going to be constantly managing.

Artists, creators, and developers will usually pursue as much hyper-realism as they can.

But… they’ll go bankrupt in pursuit of the perfect 3D model.

Executives and whoever is pulling the purse strings will usually scrap that pursuit as often as possible.

But… they’ll slash the effectiveness along with the costs.

For every business, there is a balance to be found. It’s different for each. And it will be your job to find it.

The power of hyper-realism

One of the primary use cases for XR environments, and the one that I’ve spent the most time working with companies on developing, is training.

In a multitude of cases, training employees with virtual or mixed reality headsets both enhances the outcomes of your training and/or saves money long term.

For most training purposes, the same general rule applies:

the more realistic, the more immersive it is
the more immersive it is, the better the outcome

At a certain point, our brains approach a point where they’re essentially tricked into being “immersed.” We are swept away and think that we’re actually controlling things, that our actions have consequences, and that we are part of the scenario.

You can probably intuitively understand why that kind of immersion is so powerful! Perceptual psychologists have been working on this phenomenon in our brains with experiments like the rubber hand…

Obviously this experiment isn’t the same as XR, but it provides us a framework for understanding our brains’ susceptibility to immersive environments.

It’s a lot like watching my toddler run around with a cape and mask on, truly believing, with every fiber of his being, that he is flying like Superman.

We “know” it’s not real… but we allow ourselves to suspend reality and join the storyline.

In the world of mixed reality medical training, we like to say,

“There are Medical MineCrafts and there are MediVerses.”

The Medical MineCraft is basically a user playing with a bunch of fake-looking avatars with very cartoony medical equipment. The cause-and-effect might be very realistic such as unscrewing a bolt, but the look and feel is very cartoonish.

On the other hand, with a MediVerse, you have companies like GigXR creating “digital twins” of equipment so that every piece of equipment looks real. There’s no longer a hurdle for the brain to get immersed in the scenario.

Here’s the thing: one is not better than the other.
But both are better suited for specific outcomes.

And again… that’ll be your job as a business leader or owner to figure out.

If you want to do a deep dive on what it really takes to create a hyper-realistic virtual scenario, and what tensions you’ll have to manage at each level, check it out here.

It all boils down to a simple idea: REALISM matters where RESULTS matter.

Invest in hyper-realism in the areas that will bring you better results for whatever you’re creating.

Put it on the chopping block anywhere else.

Do you need further guidance on how to navigate this for your business specifically? DM me on LinkedIn and we can chat!