Impact of visual and experiential realism on distance perception in VR using a custom video see-through system

Abstract

Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology has the potential to play an important role in the conceptual design process in architecture, if we can ensure that sketch-like structures are able to afford an accurate egocentric appreciation of the scale of the interior space of a preliminary building model. Historically, it has been found that people tend to perceive egocentric distances in head-mounted display (HMD) based virtual environments as being shorter than equivalent distances in the real world. Previous research has shown that in such cases, reducing the quality of the computer graphics does not make the situation significantly worse. However, other research has found that breaking the illusion of reality in a compellingly photorealistic VR experience can have a significant negative impact on distance perception accuracy.In this paper, we investigate the impact of "graphical realism" on distance perception accuracy in VR from a novel perspective. Rather than starting with a virtual 3D model and varying its surface texture, we start with a live view of the real world, presented through a custom-designed video/optical-see-through HMD, and apply image processing to the video stream to remove details. This approach offers the potential to explore the relationship between visual and experiential realism in a more nuanced manner than has previously been done. In a within-subjects experiment across three different

Systematic Review on Realism Research Methodologies on Immersive Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Realities

“…In other words, what is already real cannot be further improved as it is already fully representing reality. However, it can be manipulated and downgraded through image processing [72].…”

“…Due to how the overlay works, virtual objects cannot completely occlude the real environment as they will always be transparent. [48], [49], [75], [76], [78] Custom User Preference 10 (11.1%) [36], [60], [67]- [69], [73], [86], [95], [97], [105] Presence Questionnaire (PQ) [57] Presence 7 [59], [60], [66], [74], [84], [ [43], [43], [56], [72], [96], [108], [113], [118], [119] Custom User Performance 7 (100%) [106], [112], [120]- [124] Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) [125] Physiologic Responses 8 [56], [61], [66], [106], [110], [112], [126] Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire [127] Physiologic Responses 1 [109]…”

“…Physiologic Responses 1 (10%) [72] This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited.…”

Egocentric Distance Perception: A Comparative Study Investigating Differences Between Real and Virtual Environments

“…Pictorial depth cues, such as linear perspective, foreshortening, and texturing, increase not only the realism of a scene but also improve distance perception (Murgia & Sharkey, 2009; Surdick et al., 1997). The superiority of highly realistic sceneries as opposed to nonphotorealistic graphical renderings for judging distances has been shown in multiple studies (Phillips et al., 2009, 2010, 2012; Phillips & Interrante, 2011; Vaziri et al., 2017). In particular, the presence of a realistic ground texture has been shown to improve distance judgments (Sinai et al., 1998).…”

Spectral Visualization Sharpening

“…Distance perception is critical in virtual reality environments and has been extensively studied [Interrante et al 2006;Vaziri et al 2017]. Although we focus on the use of virtual viewing distance as leverage for contrast enhancement, it is possible to extend our work to virtual and augmented reality settings.…”