Designing A Successful HMD-Based Experience

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Pierce ◽  
Randy Pausch ◽  
Christopher B. Sturgill ◽  
Kevin D. Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Virtual Characters ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Virtual Experience

For entertainment applications, a successful virtual experience based on a head-mounted display (HMD) needs to overcome some or all of the following problems: entering a virtual world is a jarring experience, people do not naturally turn their heads or talk to each other while wearing an HMD, putting on the equipment is hard, and people do not realize when the experience is over. In the Electric Garden at SIGGRAPH 97, we presented the Mad Hatter's Tea Party, a shared virtual environment experienced by more than 1,500 SIGGRAPH attendees. We addressed these HMD-related problems with a combination of back story, see-through HMDs, virtual characters, continuity of real and virtual objects, and the layout of the physical and virtual environments.

Learned Behavior

2016 ◽  
pp. 94-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacquelyne Forgette ◽  
Michael Katchabaw
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Virtual Characters ◽  
Learned Behavior ◽  
The World ◽  
Over Time

A key challenge in programming virtual environments is to produce virtual characters that are autonomous and capable of action selections that appear believable. In this chapter, motivations are used as a basis for learning using reinforcements. With motives driving the decisions of characters, their actions will appear less structured and repetitious, and more human in nature. This will also allow developers to easily create virtual characters with specific motivations, based mostly on their narrative purposes or roles in the virtual world. With minimum and maximum desirable motive values, the characters use reinforcement learning to drive action selection to maximize their rewards across all motives. Experimental results show that a character can learn to satisfy as many as four motives, even with significantly delayed rewards, and motive changes that are caused by other characters in the world. While the actions tested are simple in nature, they show the potential of a more complicated motivation driven reinforcement learning system. The developer need only define a character's motivations, and the character will learn to act realistically over time in the virtual environment.

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

Sensors ◽  
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.

Virtual Worlds

2017 ◽  
pp. 549-568
Author(s):  
Michelangelo Tricarico
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Specific Field ◽  
Early School ◽  
Virtual Reconstruction ◽  
3D Virtual Environment ◽  
Master Builder

This chapter discusses the author's experience in virtual environments, with particular reference to virtual reconstruction. The events are narrated from the perspective of a student who at first developed his skills in this specific field at school, and then became competent and passionate enough to teach what he had learned in the course of time. He describes his experience from early school projects to the personal ones; from his award as a “Master Builder” to his early teaching lessons. Other learning activities that can be carried out in a virtual world are also illustrated, with particular reference to “coding”, which appears to be of great interest to the author. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the potential of a 3D virtual environment for the reconstruction of monuments, i.e., the author's area of expertise. It also provides a description of other activities that can be performed in a virtual environment, while illustrating the most common issues that can be experienced and suggesting how to solve them.

The Quality of Service Issue in Virtual Environments

2010 ◽  
pp. 1333-1340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Morillo ◽  
Juan Manuel Orduña ◽  
Marcos Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Collaborative Design ◽  
Local Area Network ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Area Network ◽  
Simulation Techniques ◽  
Technological Means ◽  
Team Design

Networked virtual environments (NVEs) have become a major trend in distributed computing, mainly due to the enormous popularity of multi-player online games in the entertainment industry. Nowadays, NVE systems are considered as the supporting technology for many networked and virtual organizations (NVO) (Singhal & Zyda, 1999), especially to those classified within the field of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW), where networked computer can be seen as a standard to provide the technological means to support the team design (Ott & Nastansky, 1997). These highly interactive systems simulate a virtual world where multiple users share the same scenario. The system renders the images of the virtual world that each user would see if he was located at that point in the virtual environment. Each user is represented in the shared virtual environment by an entity called avatar, whose state is controlled by the user through the client computer. Hundreds and even thousands of client computers can be simultaneously connected to the NVE system through different networks, and even through the Internet. NVE systems are currently used in many different applications (Singhal & Zyda, 1999) such as civil and military distributed training (Miller & Thorpe, 1995), collaborative design (Salles, Galli, Almeida et al., 1997) and e-learning (Bouras, Fotakis, & Philopoulos, 1998). Nevertheless, the most extended example of NVE systems are commercial multi-player online game (MOG) environments. These systems use the same simulation techniques that NVE systems do, and they are predicted to make up over 25 percent of local area network (LAN) traffic by 2010 (McCreary & Claffy, 2000).

Comparison of Non-Nominal Geometry Models Represented in Physical Versus Virtual Environments

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casper G. Wickman ◽  
Rikard So¨derberg
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Physical Test ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
Conceptual Changes ◽  
Desktop Vr ◽  
Geometric Variation

In the automotive industry today, virtual geometry verification activities are conducted with nominal models in the early design phases. Later in the design process when the first physical test series are made, are concepts verified in a non-nominal manner. Errors detected at this stage can result in expensive post-conceptual changes. By combining Computer Aided Tolerance (CAT) simulation tools with Virtual Reality (VR) tools, virtual environments for non-nominal geometry verification can be utilized. This paper presents the results from a study, conducted at Volvo Cars, that investigates the perceptional aspects that are related to verification of quality appearance, using non-nominal virtual models. Although a realistic non-nominal model is created, the interpretation, i.e. how the model is perceived, must be clarified. This would represent a validation of the model from a perceptional point of view. Since the effect of geometric variation is a specific application, with high demands on realistic and detailed representation, perceptional studies are needed to ensure that VR and other virtual representations can be used for this kind of application. The question is whether it is possible to evaluate aspects like flush, gap and see-through in virtual environments. In this paper, two environments are compared, one physical and one corresponding virtual environment. Three adjusted physical vehicles are mapped to the virtual environment and compared using non-immersive desktop VR in a visualization clinic with test subjects from the automotive industry. The study indicates that virtual objects are judged as less good looking compared with physical objects. There is also a higher degree of uncertainness when judging virtual objects.

Presence within Virtual Environments as a Function of Visual Display Parameters

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Hendrix ◽  
Woodrow Barfield
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Head Tracking ◽  
The Third ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Being There

This paper reports the results of three studies, each of which investigated the sense of presence within virtual environments as a function of visual display parameters. These factors included the presence or absence of head tracking, the presence or absence of stereoscopic cues, and the geometric field of view used to create the visual image projected on the visual display. In each study, subjects navigated a virtual environment and completed a questionnaire designed to ascertain the level of presence experienced by the participant within the virtual world. Specifically, two aspects of presence were evaluated: (1) the sense of “being there” and (2) the fidelity of the interaction between the virtual environment participant and the virtual world. Not surprisingly, the results of the first and second study indicated that the reported level of presence was significantly higher when head tracking and stereoscopic cues were provided. The results from the third study showed that the geometric field of view used to design the visual display highly influenced the reported level of presence, with more presence associated with a 50 and 90° geometric field of view when compared to a narrower 10° geometric field of view. The results also indicated a significant positive correlation between the reported level of presence and the fidelity of the interaction between the virtual environment participant and the virtual world. Finally, it was shown that the survey questions evaluating several aspects of presence produced reliable responses across questions and studies, indicating that the questionnaire is a useful tool when evaluating presence in virtual environments.

scholarly journals An Extensible Event-Based Infrastructure for Networked Virtual Worlds

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Purbrick ◽  
Chris Greenhalgh
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
Running System ◽  
Networking Protocols ◽  
Event Based

Many VR platforms emphasize extensibility to support as wide a range of applications as possible. The current trend is to move this extensibility to lower levels of the system to support extensibility of infrastructure mechanisms such as networking protocols. This kind of extensibility allows the runtime of the virtual environment system to evolve even while the system is running. This paper presents a new virtual environment platform that allows multiple infrastructure mechanisms to be added to and coexist within the running system, with different elements of the virtual world using different mechanisms. This allows the virtual environment system to efficiently support a wider range of applications by, for example, having only certain virtual objects use conservative consistency and persistence. It can also optimize the performance of the CVE by tailoring the infrastructure mechanisms according to the different roles played by different objects in the virtual environment.

The Sense of Presence within Auditory Virtual Environments

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Hendrix ◽  
Woodrow Barfield
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Sound Source ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Auditory Display ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Navigation Task ◽  
Perceived Realism ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Survey Questions

Two studies were performed to investigate the sense of presence within stereoscopic virtual environments as a function of the addition or absence of auditory cues. The first study examined the presence or absence of spatialized sound, while the second study compared the use of nonspatialized sound to spatialized sound. Sixteen subjects were allowed to navigate freely throughout several virtual environments and for each virtual environment, their level of presence, the virtual world realism, and interactivity between the participant and virtual environment were evaluated using survey questions. The results indicated that the addition of spatialized sound significantly increased the sense of presence but not the realism of the virtual environment. Despite this outcome, the addition of a spatialized sound source significantly increased the realism with which the subjects interacted with the sound source, and significantly increased the sense that sounds emanated from specific locations within the virtual environment. The results suggest that, in the context of a navigation task, while presence in virtual environments can be improved by the addition of auditory cues, the perceived realism of a virtual environment may be influenced more by changes in the visual rather than auditory display media. Implications of these results for presence within auditory virtual environments are discussed.

scholarly journals Haptic Virtual Environments for Blind People: Exploratory Experiments with Two Devices

1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Jansson ◽  
H Petrie ◽  
C Colwell ◽  
D. Kornbrot ◽  
J. Fänger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Force Feedback ◽  
Virtual Object ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Haptic Devices ◽  
Virtual Objects ◽  
3D Objects

This paper is a fusion of two independent studies investigating related problems concerning the use of haptic virtual environments for blind people: a study in Sweden using a PHANToM 1.5 A and one in the U.K. using an Impulse Engine 3000. In general, the use of such devices is a most interesting option to provide blind people with information about representations of the 3D world, but the restriction at each moment to only one point of contact between observer and virtual object might decrease their effectiveness. The studies investigated the perception of virtual textures, the identification of virtual objects and the perception of their size and angles. Both sighted (blindfolded in one study) and blind people served as participants. It was found (1) that the PHANToM can effectively render textures in the form of sandpapers and simple 3D geometric forms and (2) that the Impulse Engine can effectively render textures consisting of grooved surfaces, as well as 3D objects, properties of which were, however, judged with some over- or underestimation. When blind and sighted participants' performance was compared differences were found that deserves further attention. In general, the haptic devices studied have demonstrated the great potential of force feedback devices in rendering relatively simple environments, in spite of the restricted ways they allow for exploring the virtual world. The results highly motivate further studies of their effectiveness, especially in more complex contexts.

CRYSTAL: Building Multicontext Virtual Environments

1997 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Tsao ◽  
Charles J. Lumsden
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
General Purpose ◽  
High Demand ◽  
Functional Elements ◽  
Unique Context

Current virtual environment systems are, for the most part, dedicated to specific applications such as engineering or surgery. The CRYSTAL project applied the concept of crystals, or 3D “windows,” to segment the virtual world into independent volumes, which may interact with each other. The contents of individual crystals can be very different from crystal to crystal, so the resulting virtual environment (VE) is not restricted to any unique context, and it is suitable as a general-purpose workspace. Crystals are created and owned by independent programs called modules, which serve as functional elements of the VE. There are basic modules to provide common functions, such as navigation, wand control, and so on. Extra modules can be launched to add content and functionality to the VE, and the modules can also be terminated interactively. Unlike “pipelined” systems for VE design, CRYSTAL modules are designed to self-assemble and resolve any interface conflicts automatically. As a result, they do not place a high demand on user proficiency in customizing VEs for a variety of uses.

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