Virtual Environments for Design Research: Lessons Learned From Use of Fully Immersive Virtual Reality in Interior Design Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saleh Kalantari ◽  
Jun Rong Jeffrey Neo
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Interior Design ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality

Immersive Virtual Reality as a Non-Pharmacological Analgesic for Pain Management

2018 ◽  
pp. 1176-1199
Author(s):  
Diane Gromala ◽  
Xin Tong ◽  
Chris Shaw ◽  
Weina Jin
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Acute Pain ◽  
Term Treatment ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Effective Form ◽  
Long Term Treatment ◽  
Difficult Challenge

In the 1990s, when immersive Virtual Reality (VR) was first popular, researchers found it to be an effective intervention in reducing acute pain. Since that time, VR technologies have been used for treating acute pain. Although the exact mechanism is unclear, VR is thought to be an especially effective form of pain distraction. While pain-related virtual environments have built upon pain distraction, a handful of researchers have focused on a more difficult challenge: VR for long-term chronic pain. Because the nature of chronic pain is complex, pharmacological analgesics are often insufficient or unsustainable as an ideal long-term treatment. In this chapter, the authors explore how VR can be used as a non-pharmacological adjuvant for chronic pain. Two paradigms for virtual environments built for addressing chronic pain have emerged – Pain Distraction and what we term Pain Self-modulation. We discuss VR's validation for mitigating pain in patients who have acute pain, for those with chronic pain, and for addressing “breakthrough” periods of higher pain in patients with chronic pain.

scholarly journals Cartographic Scale in Immersive Virtual Environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Hruby ◽  
Irma Castellanos ◽  
Rainer Ressl
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Short Review ◽  
Temporal Scale ◽  
Level Of Detail ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Conceptual Integration ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
High Level ◽  
Immersive Visualization

Abstract Scale has been a defining criterion of mapmaking for centuries. However, this criterion is fundamentally questioned by highly immersive virtual reality (VR) systems able to represent geographic environments at a high level of detail and, thus, providing the user with a feeling of being present in VR space. In this paper, we will use the concept of scale as a vehicle for discussing some of the main differences between immersive VR and non-immersive geovisualization products. Based on a short review of diverging meanings of scale we will propose possible approaches to the issue of both spatial and temporal scale in immersive VR. Our considerations shall encourage a more detailed treatment of the specific characteristics of immersive geovisualization to facilitate deeper conceptual integration of immersive and non-immersive visualization in the realm of cartography.

Towards real-time human participation in virtual evacuation through a validated simulation tool

2017 ◽  
Vol 232 (5) ◽  
pp. 476-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Montecchiari ◽  
Gabriele Bulian ◽  
Paolo Gallina
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Simulation Tool ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Social Force ◽  
Evacuation Simulation ◽  
Batch Mode ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Computer Controlled

The analysis of the ship layout from the point of view of safe and orderly evacuation represents an important step in ship design, which can be carried out through agent-based evacuation simulation tools, typically run in batch mode. Introducing the possibility for humans to interactively participate in a simulated evacuation process together with computer-controlled agents can open a series of interesting possibilities for design, research and development. To this aim, this article presents the development of a validated agent-based evacuation simulation tool which allows real-time human participation through immersive virtual reality. The main characteristics of the underlying social-force-based modelling technique are described. The tool is verified and validated by making reference to International Maritime Organization test cases, experimental data and FDS + Evac simulations. The first approach for supporting real-time human participation is then presented. An initial experiment embedding immersive virtual reality human participation is described, together with outcomes regarding comparisons between human-controlled avatars and computer-controlled agents. Results from this initial testing are encouraging in pursuing the use of virtual reality as a tool to obtain information on human behaviour during evacuation.

scholarly journals A Postphenomenological Framework for Studying User Experience of Immersive Virtual Reality

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joakim Vindenes ◽  
Barbara Wasson
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Philosophy Of Technology ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Or Education ◽  
Cognitive Changes ◽  
Flexible Technology ◽  
Human World

Virtual Reality (VR) is a remarkably flexible technology for interventions as it allows the construction of virtual worlds with ontologies radically different from the real world. By embodying users in avatars situated in these virtual environments, researchers can effectively intervene and instill positive change in the form of therapy or education, as well as affect a variety of cognitive changes. Due to the capabilities of VR to mediate both the environments in which we are immersed, as well as our embodied, situated relation toward those environments, VR has become a powerful technology for “changing the self.” As the virtually mediated experience is what renders these interventions effective, frameworks are needed for describing and analyzing the mediations brought by various virtual world designs. As a step toward a broader understanding of how VR mediates experience, we propose a post-phenomenological framework for describing VR mediation. Postphenomenology is a philosophy of technology concerned with empirical data that understand technologies as mediators of human-world relationships. By addressing how mediations occur within VR as a user-environment relation and outside VR as a human-world relation, the framework addresses the various constituents of the virtually mediated experience. We demonstrate the framework's capability for describing VR mediations by presenting the results of an analysis of a selected variety of studies that use various user-environment relations to mediate various human-world relations.

scholarly journals LOW-COST DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTERACTIVE, IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE OF THE HISTORIC CITY MODEL STADE 1620

2019 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W17 ◽  
pp. 405-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Walmsley ◽  
T. P. Kersten
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Simple Game ◽  
Texture Mapping ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
City Model ◽  
Virtual City ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Town

Abstract. As virtual reality and 3D documentation and modelling technologies become increasingly powerful and affordable tools for architecture, planning, and cultural heritage preservation and communication, it has become increasingly important to develop low-cost methodologies for the creation of 3D immersive virtual environments and interactive experiences. Doing so makes this technology more viable for institutions such as museums and other cultural institutions, who often work within strict budgets. In this paper, we describe a workflow used to build an interactive, immersive virtual reality experience around a virtual city model of the town of Stade (Germany) in the year 1620. This virtual city model is based on a physical 3D model of the town, exhibited in the Stade town hall. The workflow begins with the digitization of this model using digital photogrammetry, followed by the subsequent low- and high-polygon modelling of the individual architectural assets in Autodesk Maya, texture mapping in Substance Painter and finally visualisation within Unreal Engine 4. The results of this workflow are a detailed 3D historical environment with a high degree of realism and in which interactivity can easily be added. In addition, the workflow takes a highly iterative approach that allows the performance of the virtual environments in the game engine to be monitored at each stage of the process, and that allows adjustments to be made quickly. To increase the potential of the virtual environment as a tool for education and communication, interactive elements and simple game mechanics are currently being integrated.

scholarly journals Active Learning Through The Use Of Virtual Environments

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Mayrose
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Learning Engagement ◽  
Military Industry ◽  
Immersive Environment ◽  
The Military

Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) has seen explosive growth over the last decade. Immersive VR attempts to give users the sensation of being fully immersed in a synthetic environment by providing them with 3D hardware, and allowing them to interact with objects in virtual worlds. The technology is extremely effective for learning and exploration, and has been widely adopted by the military, industry and academia. This current study set out to study the effectiveness of 3D interactive environments on learning, engagement, and preference. A total of 180 students took part in the study where significant results were found regarding preference for this new technology over standard educational practices. Students were more motivated when using the immersive environment than with traditional methods which may translate into greater learning and retention. Larger studies will need to be performed in order to quantify the benefits of this new, cutting edge technology, as it relates to understanding and retention of educational content. 

scholarly journals Pointing Errors in Non-Metric Virtual Environments

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Muryy ◽  
Andrew Glennerster
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Reference Frame ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Local Reference Frame ◽  
Human Navigation ◽  
Pointing Errors ◽  
Representation Of Space ◽  
Local Reference

AbstractThere have been suggestions that human navigation may depend on representations that have no metric, Euclidean interpretation but that hypothesis remains contentious. An alternative is that observers build a consistent 3D representation of space. Using immersive virtual reality, we measured the ability of observers to point to targets in mazes that had zero, one or three ‘wormholes’ – regions where the maze changed in configuration (invisibly). In one model, we allowed the configuration of the maze to vary to best explain the pointing data; in a second model we also allowed the local reference frame to be rotated through 90, 180 or 270 degrees. The latter model outperformed the former in the wormhole conditions, inconsistent with a Euclidean cognitive map.

scholarly journals Place illusion and plausibility can lead to realistic behaviour in immersive virtual environments

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1535) ◽  
pp. 3549-3557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mel Slater
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Reality System ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Real Place ◽  
Orthogonal Components ◽  
Sensorimotor Contingencies ◽  
Being There

In this paper, I address the question as to why participants tend to respond realistically to situations and events portrayed within an immersive virtual reality system. The idea is put forward, based on the experience of a large number of experimental studies, that there are two orthogonal components that contribute to this realistic response. The first is ‘being there’, often called ‘presence’, the qualia of having a sensation of being in a real place. We call this place illusion (PI). Second, plausibility illusion (Psi) refers to the illusion that the scenario being depicted is actually occurring. In the case of both PI and Psi the participant knows for sure that they are not ‘there’ and that the events are not occurring. PI is constrained by the sensorimotor contingencies afforded by the virtual reality system. Psi is determined by the extent to which the system can produce events that directly relate to the participant, the overall credibility of the scenario being depicted in comparison with expectations. We argue that when both PI and Psi occur, participants will respond realistically to the virtual reality.

Development of a Signal Detection-Based Task for Research on Distributed Human-Robot Teaming within Immersive Virtual Reality

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 1479-1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Vasquez ◽  
Rhyse Bendell ◽  
Andrew Talone ◽  
Florian Jentsch
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Signal Detection ◽  
Performance Metrics ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Immersive Virtual Reality ◽  
Control Measurement ◽  
Multiple Parameters ◽  
Continuous Dynamic ◽  
Interface Devices

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and validation of a dynamic signal detection-based task experienced within immersive virtual reality (IVR). The task will be used as a primary task for investigating the workload introduced by interface devices used for human-robot team communications. Participants play the role of a Soldier performing a Cordon and Search operation monitoring an environment for threats. The task differs from traditional signal detection tasks in that it is continuous, dynamic, and signal stimuli move through participants’ field of view. Implementation of the task within simulation allows for direct control, measurement, and manipulation of multiple parameters that influence performance metrics, task difficulty, and participant workload. Lessons learned during the design and development of the task are shared to guide other researchers intending to implement a signal detection-based task within IVR.

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