Green Screen + VR = Magic

Explaining virtual reality to someone who's never tried it is hard. The moment of pulling the goggles over your face and feeling transported to a completely different location sounds like fiction, which is perhaps why it's captured the imaginations of so many artists. Thankfully, by using a green screen to show from the outside what SteamVR users experience on the inside, a new demo of the HTC Vive cracks open the virtual Pandora's box.

In the video below, a gaggle of giggling gadget enthusiasts explore asteroid fields, ocean floors, fry cook kitchens, and first-person shooters, all rendered realistically. It's thrilling. It looks like these people are starring in their own interactive action movies—a prospect that's entirely possible with this filmmaking trick. The Vive demo features footage from Steam games and tools like Elite Dangerous, Job Simulator, and the TiltBrush The great thing about this VR / green screen hybrid is that it actually makes cooking bacon for a living and being insulted by a robot fry cook look really cool. We'd love to see site-specific virtual reality theme parks like THE VOID apply this technique to their experiences.

Watch the video below to get as close to experiencing virtual reality as possible without virtual reality goggles.

Learn more on the HTC Vive website.

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