Glossary

1. Immersive technologies

AR (or Augmented Reality)

  • Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows the integration of virtual elements in 3D (in real time) within a real environment. The principle is to combine the virtual and the real and to give the illusion of a perfect integration to the user. Augmented Reality perceived through Augmented Reality glasses is better known as MR or Mixed Reality.

360° CAMERA

  • The 360° camera allows you to record an immersive video (also called 360 degree video). This is a video recording of a real world scene where the image is recorded in all directions at the same time.

EYE TRACKING

  • A technique for monitoring eye activity, which measures the path, points and times of fixation of an individual's gaze.

FILTERS AND EFFECTS

  • The terms filters and effects mean the same thing: the augmented reality filter that you can find on social networks such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and now TikTok. This technology uses the camera built into these applications to add a layer of virtuality to you or your surroundings. Easy to use and accessible, it offers fun, mainstream experiences without the need to download applications or wear VR headsets.

LIDAR

  • LIDAR is the acronym for "light detection and ranging" or "laser detection and ranging". It is a device for calculating the distance to an object by transmitting and receiving the light wave emitted by a laser beam.

3D MODELLING

  • Digital creation of three-dimensional elements (environments, objects, characters, etc.). These elements can then be incorporated into a game engine to develop a VR or AR application.

MR (or Mixed Reality)

  • Mixed Reality (MR) is a term for devices that display 3D content through a dedicated headset. By definition, this term is a mix between augmented reality and virtual reality. To experience MR, you will need an Augmented Reality headset. With these devices, the user's position is calculated in real time and it is possible to physically interact with the virtual elements through gestures or joysticks.

VR (or Virtual Reality)

  • Virtual reality is a technology that allows you to be immersed in a virtual environment created from scratch in 3D or from real 360° shots. How do you do it? Use a Virtual Reality headset or a smartphone equipped with a VR adapter like a cardboard to be immersed. You can turn your head 360° around, move around in space and interact with the environment using controllers.

Metaverse

  • The term first appeared in 1992 with the novel Snow Crash. Its vision is based on how the Internet could evolve by relying on virtual reality. It combines the prefix "meta" (meaning "beyond") and "universe" which refers to virtual space. The metaverse is a fictional virtual world created artificially by a computer programme. This parallel world would allow users to move around, interact socially and sometimes economically, in the form of an avatar. In 2003, the game Second Life was one of the precursors of the genre. It allowed users to play as virtual characters in a world created by the residents themselves. Nowadays, the video games Fortnite and Roblox are the leaders of this genre. They have allowed people to follow virtual concerts by Travis Scott, Arianna Grande or Zara Larsson through their avatar.

360° VIDEO

  • A 360° video is an immersive video that allows the viewer to have a 360° view. The 360° video reproduces the principle of panoramic photography in the field of video. To film the environment at 360°, a specific camera called a 360° camera must be used.

VIDEO MAPPING (video mapping)

  • Multimedia technology that allows light or video to be projected onto volumes and images to be recreated on relief structures of varying sizes.

2. The material

VR PREMIUM HEADSET

  • Virtual Reality headsets connected to a VR-ready PC. These headsets generally have a very high resolution and high computing power from the computer. The rendering quality of the experience is therefore high for a "premium" immersion. This category includes the following headsets: Oculus Rift and Rift S, HTC Vive, Pimax, etc.

VR STANDALONE HEADSETS (or stand-alone headsets)

  • These are wireless headsets that do not require a computer or phone to operate. Headsets in this category include: Oculus Go, Oculus Quest, Lenovo Explorer, etc.

FOV (or field of view)

  • This term determines the width of the field of view of the user using a VR or AR headset. One of the fundamental parts of a believable illusion is the pair of lenses present in all headsets. They allow a standard view of the screen to be replaced by a resemblance to reality. These special lenses define the FOV, or field of view. The average human field of view is 200 degrees. 120° is useful for judging the distance of objects in front of you with very sharp vision. The best headsets currently offer an FOV of 110 degrees, which is sufficient for a quality immersive experience.

HTC VIVE

  • The HTC Vive is a virtual reality headset developed by HTC and Valve Corporation, and released on 5 April 2016. Only compatible with VR-Ready computers, the HTC Vive headset comes with two interactive controllers that can be used in a 4.5m x 4.5m play area. A host of HTC Vive accessories are being developed by the company or various startups in the sector.

OCULUS QUEST 2

  • Facebook is launching the Oculus Quest 2 on 13 October 2020. Like the first Quest, it is a stand-alone virtual reality headset with no cables or external sensors, and all the components needed to operate it. The Quest 2 can also be used as a VR headset for PCs, thanks to the Oculus Link cable that allows it to be connected to a computer.

PC-VR

  • A Virtual Reality experience or installation that relies on a VR or AR headset connected to a computer. These are known as PC-VR headsets.

VR-READY

  • Defines a computer with the capabilities and power to run Virtual Reality applications.

3. The merchandising lexicon

LIGHTING

  • The aim is to attract customers and orient them among the various products. Shelf marking allows certain products or product ranges to be highlighted on the shelf, using, for example, rulers, label holders, dividers, kakemonos, front panels, shelf stoppers, etc.

CATEGORY MANAGEMENT (or product management)

  • Category management is a procedure for optimising the sales of a product category which is generally carried out jointly by a retailer and one or more industrial manufacturers. The category management or product management1 is a strategic approach to retail marketing and a set of methods that enable retailers to go beyond the industrial or purely purchasing logic of selecting, presenting and promoting the offer by integrating the specific needs of customers, such as their in-store purchasing behaviour or their logic of product use, in order to build lasting loyalty.

MERCHANDISING

  • Techniques for presenting goods to encourage consumers to buy. Merchandising optimisation is based on quantitative analyses of sales and results (turnover, margins, panel data, etc.), on highlighting the offer and on taking into account the behaviour of visitors to the point of sale (route, consumption habits, speed of traffic, behaviour and visual capacities, etc.).

PHYGITAL

  • Is a term that appeared in 2013. Phygital is the contraction of the words "physical" and "digital", which refers to a marketing strategy. It can be synonymous with the expression digitalization of the point of sale: that is to say that the physical shop makes the connection with its e-commerce site, both in terms of customer and product data... Phygital commerce is a physical point of sale that integrates the data and methods of the digital world with a view to developing its turnover.

POS (point of sale) advertising

  • POS or point-of-sale advertising is an element of merchandising, a direct communication technique aimed at the consumer. It refers to all the possible uses of the many advertising or visual media that can be present at the point of sale. The aim of POS advertising is to draw attention to a product or an offer, to enhance the value of this offer or this product, and then possibly to encourage purchase by means of an advertising argument or speech.

V-COMMERCE (or Virtual commerce)

  • The term v-commercecan have different meanings. Initially, the term V-commerceis used for "virtual commerce" and refers to the commercial activity generated from virtual reality applications. It represents the next great evolution of commerce, which consists of a mix between e-commerce and all the new technologies such as virtual reality or augmented reality. These two technologies are set to completely revolutionise shopping in physical outlets and e-commerce.

4. Technology and immersion

AVATAR

  • An avatar is the virtual representation of the user within the experience. They are audiovisual bodies that allow the user to exist and interact in the virtual world.

DOF (degrees of freedom)

  • This is the number of types of movement the user can make in the experience. In Virtual Reality, stand-alone headsets allow 3 DoF, which corresponds to 360° head movement tracking. Roomscale and Premium headsets offer 6 DoFs with the addition of spatial position tracking, which corresponds to the movement of a human in the real world.

HAND TRACKING

  • Hand-tracking technology is a gesture recognition system. Most VR headsets are equipped with joysticks whose movements in space are taken into account by the hardware. Sensors record the movements, translate the data and then transcribe it into a virtual reality headset. Some devices, such as Microsoft's AR headsets (Hololens), can detect a number of hand movements to carry out commands.

LATENCE

  • In VR, latency refers to the perceptible delay between the movement of the head and the appearance of the image on the screen - creating a time lag between the movement perceived by the inner ear and the perception of the displayed image. In the real world, this time lag is almost non-existent. In VR, a latency of 20 milliseconds is considered low and acceptable for a comfortable experience.

MOTION SICKNESS

  • Also known as kinetosis or cyberkinetosis, this is a feeling of unease caused by the VR experience. Most of the time, the symptoms are similar to motion sickness (nausea, dizziness, etc.). In the early days of VR technology, this discomfort was caused by a low frame rate, but this has been corrected in the latest headsets. Another cause of motion sickness is the design of the experience where certain types of movement are to be avoided.

ROOMSCALE

  • It is a term used to define a Virtual Reality experience where the user is able to move freely at 6DoF. It uses VR headsets with external or integrated motion sensors and requires the user to mark out an area in real space. The user's movements within this area are reflected in the experience. For example, it is possible to walk, jump or bend down.