Hold onto your britches it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!!!!!

This was my thoughts as I volunteered to try on the HTC Vive headset and go into the great unknown.  So I put on the headset, bumping them over my glasses but finally getting it on nice and snug.  Darkness….no wait I am in an elevator and there is a beautiful city outside.  Green grass, some tall trees and some really tall buildings.

Okay I get instruction from the lecturer.  You see that button on the panel next to you..err yes…use the controller to press it..okay…

The doors start to close.  Okay now I am in a closed elevator.  The lecturer tells me to stick my head out of the door which I do and….EEK!!  I am 20 stories up and moving very rapidly.   I quickly pulled my head back in waiting for the next part of this VR adventure (becoming a nightmare for me).

The elevator stops and the doors open and to my horror we are 40 stories up and there is a plank in front of me..I wonder what it is doing there.  The lecturer says to me.  You see that plank…yes…walk on it.  no no

I immediately turned around and looked at the back of the elevator.. Everyone in the class started laughing as I flat out refused to walk the plank.  Even though I knew it was VR I could not walk onto that plank that far above the ground.  It was that real.

I returned to my seat and the next volunteer went up.  He had obviously done this before and merrily ran and danced on the plank.  The lecturer asked him to step off the plank which he did…and he FELL!!!  I would have had a heart attack right there and then.

That was my first real experience in VR and I am hoping to take the technology and really push it in the world of CAD so if you are interested in how it goes watch this space.