Different Types of Users, Different Types of Immersion: A User Study of Interaction Design and Immersion in Consumer Virtual Reality

In this paper, we present a virtual audience simulation system for Virtual Reality (VR). The system implements an audience perception model controlling the nonverbal behaviors of virtual spectators, such as facial expressions or postures. Groups of virtual spectators are animated by a set of nonverbal behavior rules representing a particular audience attitude (e.g., indifferent or enthusiastic). Each rule specifies a nonverbal behavior category: posture, head movement, facial expression and gaze direction as well as three parameters: type, frequency and proportion. In a first user-study, we asked participants to pretend to be a speaker in VR and then create sets of nonverbal behaviour parameters to simulate different attitudes. Participants manipulated the nonverbal behaviours of single virtual spectator to match a specific levels of engagement and opinion toward them. In a second user-study, we used these parameters to design different types of virtual audiences with our nonverbal behavior rules and evaluated their perceptions. Our results demonstrate our system’s ability to create virtual audiences with three types of different perceived attitudes: indifferent, critical, enthusiastic. The analysis of the results also lead to a set of recommendations and guidelines regarding attitudes and expressions for future design of audiences for VR therapy and training applications.

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Designing with Ethnography: Tabletops and the Importance of their Physical Setup for Group Interactions in Exhibitions

i-com ◽

10.1515/icom-2015-0031 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Michael Storz ◽

Kalja Kanellopoulos ◽

Claudia Fraas ◽

Maximilian Eibl

Keyword(s):

New Media ◽

Interaction Design ◽

Development Process ◽

User Study ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Group Interactions ◽

Interactive Surfaces ◽

Iterative Development ◽

Different Types

AbstractDesigning interactive surfaces for walk-up-and-use scenarios in semi-public spaces like museums is a challenging task, since they need to be intuitive and appealing for a broad range of users. We describe the iterative development of two tabletop prototypes and their applications with a combination of interaction design and different types of ethnography. We outline the extensive development process and describe a user study with our second prototype, conducted in an exhibition about new media and digital cooperation for one week. Especially the physical setup of our tabletops distinguishes them from others. It consists of several seating elements to make interaction more comfortable for a heterogeneity of active users and onlookers. As an example for the analysis of the collected data we outline an interaction session of a group of 15 people. Results show that the artifact was well received and that groups and their interactions benefited from the physical setup.

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Back to reality: transition techniques from short HMD-based virtual experiences to the physical world

Multimedia Tools and Applications ◽

10.1007/s11042-021-11317-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Robin Horst ◽

Ramtin Naraghi-Taghi-Off ◽

Linda Rau ◽

Ralf Dörner

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Virtual World ◽

Visual Cues ◽

User Study ◽

Physical World ◽

Direct Communication ◽

Common Presentation ◽

Presentation Media ◽

Virtual Experiences ◽

Short Times

AbstractEvery Virtual Reality (VR) experience has to end at some point. While there already exist concepts to design transitions for users to enter a virtual world, their return from the physical world should be considered, as well, as it is a part of the overall VR experience. We call the latter outro-transitions. In contrast to offboarding of VR experiences, that takes place after taking off VR hardware (e.g., HMDs), outro-transitions are still part of the immersive experience. Such transitions occur more frequently when VR is experienced periodically and for only short times. One example where transition techniques are necessary is in an auditorium where the audience has individual VR headsets available, for example, in a presentation using PowerPoint slides together with brief VR experiences sprinkled between the slides. The audience must put on and take off HMDs frequently every time they switch from common presentation media to VR and back. In a such a one-to-many VR scenario, it is challenging for presenters to explore the process of multiple people coming back from the virtual to the physical world at once. Direct communication may be constrained while VR users are wearing an HMD. Presenters need a tool to indicate them to stop the VR session and switch back to the slide presentation. Virtual visual cues can help presenters or other external entities (e.g., automated/scripted events) to request VR users to end a VR session. Such transitions become part of the overall experience of the audience and thus must be considered. This paper explores visual cues as outro-transitions from a virtual world back to the physical world and their utility to enable presenters to request VR users to end a VR session. We propose and investigate eight transition techniques. We focus on their usage in short consecutive VR experiences and include both established and novel techniques. The transition techniques are evaluated within a user study to draw conclusions on the effects of outro-transitions on the overall experience and presence of participants. We also take into account how long an outro-transition may take and how comfortable our participants perceived the proposed techniques. The study points out that they preferred non-interactive outro-transitions over interactive ones, except for a transition that allowed VR users to communicate with presenters. Furthermore, we explore the presenter-VR user relation within a presentation scenario that uses short VR experiences. The study indicates involving presenters that can stop a VR session was not only negligible but preferred by our participants.

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Enhancing spatial perception through sound: mapping human movements into MIDI

Multimedia Tools and Applications ◽

10.1007/s11042-021-11077-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Bernardo Breve ◽

Stefano Cirillo ◽

Mariano Cuofano ◽

Domenico Desiato

Keyword(s):

Real Time ◽

User Study ◽

Spatial Perception ◽

Human Movements ◽

Different Types ◽

Real Time Tracking ◽

People’S Perceptions ◽

Novel Algorithm

AbstractGestural expressiveness plays a fundamental role in the interaction with people, environments, animals, things, and so on. Thus, several emerging application domains would exploit the interpretation of movements to support their critical designing processes. To this end, new forms to express the people’s perceptions could help their interpretation, like in the case of music. In this paper, we investigate the user’s perception associated with the interpretation of sounds by highlighting how sounds can be exploited for helping users in adapting to a specific environment. We present a novel algorithm for mapping human movements into MIDI music. The algorithm has been implemented in a system that integrates a module for real-time tracking of movements through a sample based synthesizer using different types of filters to modulate frequencies. The system has been evaluated through a user study, in which several users have participated in a room experience, yielding significant results about their perceptions with respect to the environment they were immersed.

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Towards estimating affective states in Virtual Reality based on behavioral data

Virtual Reality ◽

10.1007/s10055-021-00518-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Valentin Holzwarth ◽

Johannes Schneider ◽

Joshua Handali ◽

Joy Gisler ◽

Christian Hirt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Adaptive Systems ◽

User Study ◽

Affective State ◽

Head Movements ◽

Affective States ◽

Physical Demand ◽

Perceived Performance ◽

Sequential Administration ◽

Better Than

AbstractInferring users’ perceptions of Virtual Environments (VEs) is essential for Virtual Reality (VR) research. Traditionally, this is achieved through assessing users’ affective states before and after being exposed to a VE, based on standardized, self-assessment questionnaires. The main disadvantage of questionnaires is their sequential administration, i.e., a user’s affective state is measured asynchronously to its generation within the VE. A synchronous measurement of users’ affective states would be highly favorable, e.g., in the context of adaptive systems. Drawing from nonverbal behavior research, we argue that behavioral measures could be a powerful approach to assess users’ affective states in VR. In this paper, we contribute by providing methods and measures evaluated in a user study involving 42 participants to assess a users’ affective states by measuring head movements during VR exposure. We show that head yaw significantly correlates with presence, mental and physical demand, perceived performance, and system usability. We also exploit the identified relationships for two practical tasks that are based on head yaw: (1) predicting a user’s affective state, and (2) detecting manipulated questionnaire answers, i.e., answers that are possibly non-truthful. We found that affective states can be predicted significantly better than a naive estimate for mental demand, physical demand, perceived performance, and usability. Further, manipulated or non-truthful answers can also be estimated significantly better than by a naive approach. These findings mark an initial step in the development of novel methods to assess user perception of VEs.

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Low-Asymmetry Interface for Multiuser VR Experiences with Both HMD and Non-HMD Users

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21020397 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 397

Author(s):

Qimeng Zhang ◽

Ji-Su Ban ◽

Mingyu Kim ◽

Hae Won Byun ◽

Chang-Hun Kim

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Mobile Device ◽

User Satisfaction ◽

Virtual World ◽

User Study ◽

Visual Display ◽

Point Of View ◽

Head Mounted Display ◽

And Behavior

We propose a low-asymmetry interface to improve the presence of non-head-mounted-display (non-HMD) users in shared virtual reality (VR) experiences with HMD users. The low-asymmetry interface ensures that the HMD and non-HMD users’ perception of the VR environment is almost similar. That is, the point-of-view asymmetry and behavior asymmetry between HMD and non-HMD users are reduced. Our system comprises a portable mobile device as a visual display to provide a changing PoV for the non-HMD user and a walking simulator as an in-place walking detection sensor to enable the same level of realistic and unrestricted physical-walking-based locomotion for all users. Because this allows non-HMD users to experience the same level of visualization and free movement as HMD users, both of them can engage as the main actors in movement scenarios. Our user study revealed that the low-asymmetry interface enables non-HMD users to feel a presence similar to that of the HMD users when performing equivalent locomotion tasks in a virtual environment. Furthermore, our system can enable one HMD user and multiple non-HMD users to participate together in a virtual world; moreover, our experiments show that the non-HMD user satisfaction increases with the number of non-HMD participants owing to increased presence and enjoyment.

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UNDERSTANDING UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAMMETRY FOR MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY THROUGH IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY

ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences ◽

10.5194/isprs-archives-xlii-2-w10-85-2019 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol XLII-2/W10 ◽

pp. 85-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

M. Doležal ◽

M. Vlachos ◽

M. Secci ◽

S. Demesticha ◽

D. Skarlatos ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Educational Software ◽

User Study ◽

Data Gathering ◽

Maritime Archaeology ◽

Archaeological Sites ◽

Immersive Virtual Reality ◽

Digital Form ◽

3D Mesh ◽

Initial Results

Abstract. Underwater archaeological discoveries bring new challenges to the field, but such sites are more difficult to reach and, due to natural influences, they tend to deteriorate fast. Photogrammetry is one of the most powerful tools used for archaeological fieldwork. Photogrammetric techniques are used to document the state of the site in digital form for later analysis, without the risk of damaging any of the artefacts or the site itself. To achieve best possible results with the gathered data, divers should come prepared with the knowledge of measurements and photo capture methods. Archaeologists use this technology to record discovered arteacts or even the whole archaeological sites. Data gathering underwater brings several problems and limitations, so specific steps should be taken to get the best possible results, and divers should well be prepared before starting work at an underwater site. Using immersive virtual reality, we have developed an educational software to introduce maritime archaeology students to photogrammetry techniques. To test the feasibility of the software, a user study was performed and evaluated by experts. In the software, the user is tasked to put markers on the site, measure distances between them, and then take photos of the site, from which the 3D mesh is generated offline. Initial results show that the system is useful for understanding the basics of underwater photogrammetry.

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Virtual Reality and Assistive Technologies: A Survey

International Journal of Virtual Reality ◽

10.20870/ijvr.2018.18.2.2905 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 30-57

Author(s):

Shamima Yasmin

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Virtual Environments ◽

Virtual Environment ◽

Assistive Technologies ◽

Sensory Substitution ◽

Body Movements ◽

Rehabilitation Therapy ◽

Extensive Survey ◽

Different Types ◽

Mental Exercise

This paper conducts an extensive survey on existing Virtual Reality (VR)-based rehabilitation approaches in the context of different types of impairments: mobility, cognitive, and visual. Some VR-based assistive technologies involve repetitions of body movements, some require persistent mental exercise, while some work as sensory substitution systems. A multi-modal VR-based environment can incorporate a number of senses, (i.e., visual, auditory, or haptic) into the system and can be an immense source of motivation and engagement in comparison with traditional rehabilitation therapy. This survey categorizes virtual environments on the basis of different available modalities. Each category is again subcategorized by the types of impairments while introducing available devices and interfaces. Before concluding the survey, the paper also briefly focuses on some issues with existing VR-based approaches that need to be optimized to exploit the utmost benefit of virtual environment-based rehabilitation systems .

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My VRchive. Developing a Methodology for creating Immersive Gaming Content and Interaction for Virtual Reality

10.26686/wgtn.17134367.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Gerrit Jacobus van Rooyen

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Real World ◽

Interaction Design ◽

Game Design ◽

Entire Body ◽

The Real ◽

Fast Pace ◽

Content Generation

Writing for and designing a methodology for Virtual Reality (VR) can be difficult as the technology around this medium grows at a fast pace. Many game designers and directors of VR experiences still claim to make things up as they go along, with no definitive methodology for content and interaction design existing yet. So far, some guidelines have been set to help prevent discomfort, but clearly not enough has been done to look at how and why we should design for VR specifically. As VR is a very immersive medium that can allow the user to potentially use their entire body as they would in the real world to interact with an experience, we need to take precedents from real world interaction when designing VR experiences. This thesis focuses specifically on game design and content generation by looking at board and table top elements as the realworld precedent. To demonstrate my findings, I have created an experience named My VRchive. Much like a sketchbook an animator uses to save ideas for later use, My VRchive will house small experiences created from my research, into content and interaction design, in a format that can be added to and shared. At the finalisation of this thesis three experiences were created. My theory is that if more designers adopt this strategy, we can all add to this growing methodology of how to develop immersive content and interaction for VR gaming and experiences.

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3D virtual reality vs. 2D desktop registration user interface comparison

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0258103 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (10) ◽

pp. e0258103

Author(s):

Andreas Bueckle ◽

Kilian Buehling ◽

Patrick C. Shih ◽

Katy Börner

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

User Interface ◽

Human Tissue ◽

User Study ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Target Object ◽

Virtual Space ◽

Colon Tissue ◽

Position Accuracy ◽

Downstream Analysis

Working with organs and extracted tissue blocks is an essential task in many medical surgery and anatomy environments. In order to prepare specimens from human donors for further analysis, wet-bench workers must properly dissect human tissue and collect metadata for downstream analysis, including information about the spatial origin of tissue. The Registration User Interface (RUI) was developed to allow stakeholders in the Human Biomolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) to register tissue blocks—i.e., to record the size, position, and orientation of human tissue data with regard to reference organs. The RUI has been used by tissue mapping centers across the HuBMAP consortium to register a total of 45 kidney, spleen, and colon tissue blocks, with planned support for 17 organs in the near future. In this paper, we compare three setups for registering one 3D tissue block object to another 3D reference organ (target) object. The first setup is a 2D Desktop implementation featuring a traditional screen, mouse, and keyboard interface. The remaining setups are both virtual reality (VR) versions of the RUI: VR Tabletop, where users sit at a physical desk which is replicated in virtual space; VR Standup, where users stand upright while performing their tasks. All three setups were implemented using the Unity game engine. We then ran a user study for these three setups involving 42 human subjects completing 14 increasingly difficult and then 30 identical tasks in sequence and reporting position accuracy, rotation accuracy, completion time, and satisfaction. All study materials were made available in support of future study replication, alongside videos documenting our setups. We found that while VR Tabletop and VR Standup users are about three times as fast and about a third more accurate in terms of rotation than 2D Desktop users (for the sequence of 30 identical tasks), there are no significant differences between the three setups for position accuracy when normalized by the height of the virtual kidney across setups. When extrapolating from the 2D Desktop setup with a 113-mm-tall kidney, the absolute performance values for the 2D Desktop version (22.6 seconds per task, 5.88 degrees rotation, and 1.32 mm position accuracy after 8.3 tasks in the series of 30 identical tasks) confirm that the 2D Desktop interface is well-suited for allowing users in HuBMAP to register tissue blocks at a speed and accuracy that meets the needs of experts performing tissue dissection. In addition, the 2D Desktop setup is cheaper, easier to learn, and more practical for wet-bench environments than the VR setups.

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