Fig. 1: AR telepresence spaces seen from the perspective views (bottom) of the User X in Space A (left) and User Y in Space B (right), and the egocentric views of the users seeing the avatar of the other party (top). The avatars are placed by our method to preserve the semantics of the placement the other party. Abstract-Rapidly developing technologies are realizing a 3D telepresence, in which geographically separated users can interact with each other through their virtual avatars. In this paper, we present novel methods to determine the avatar's position in an indoor space to preserve the semantics of the user's position in a dissimilar indoor space with different space configurations and furniture layouts. To this end, we first perform a user survey on the preferred avatar placements for various indoor configurations and user placements, and identify a set of related attributes, including interpersonal relation, visual attention, pose, and spatial characteristics, and quantify these attributes with a set of features. By using the obtained dataset and identified features, we train a neural network that predicts the similarity between two placements. Next, we develop an avatar placement method that preserves the semantics of the placement of the remote user in a different space as much as possible. We show the effectiveness of our methods by implementing a prototype AR-based telepresence system and user evaluations.
Figure 1: Our system allows for different room environments by retargeting the user's placement and deictic gesture to the remote avatar so as to preserve the user's context of placement and interaction. Small figures are user's egocentric views.
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