ICAT-EGVE2017

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https://diglib.eg.org/handle/10.2312/2631902

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360° versus 3D Environments in VR Headsets for an Exploration Task
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Boukhris, Mehdi; Paljic, Alexis; Lafon-Pham, Dominique; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
For entertainment, pedagogical or cultural purposes, there is a need for fast and easy setup of virtual environments that represent real ones. The use of 360° video in Virtual Reality Headsets seems like a powerful tool for producing fun and engaging content in a fast manner. This applies even more when we need to set up realistic views of actual environments. However, in terms of user experience in virtual reality headsets, can 360° shots of a real environment be an interesting alternative to a full 3D model? In this work, we have conducted a user study during a film festival comparing the reaction of a wide public to two versions of a Virtual Reality cultural heritage visit of a Paleolithic cave, the "Grotte de Commarque" located in the south of France. The first version is a full 3D textured model of the cave, the second is a series of 360° pictures, presented in a VR Headset. We have set up a scenario of observation and exploration. The users were able to navigate with the same teleportation metaphor in both conditions. We focused on evaluating the sense of presence during the visit. We have also sought for trends in perceived fun, sickness and easiness of navigation. Our results suggest that the full 3D environment is where the participants feel more present. However, the difference in rating the measures between the two conditions were not strongly marked. Moreover, a relevant result that we retain is that this rating is correlated to the degree of familiarity of the user with virtual reality.
3D Reconstruction of Hand Postures by Measuring Skin Deformation on Back Hand
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Kuno, Wakaba; Sugiura, Yuta; Asano, Nao; Kawai, Wataru; Sugimoto, Maki; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
In this research, we propose a method for reconstructing hand posture by measuring the deformation of the back of the hand with a wearable device. The deformation of skin on the back of the hand can be measured by using several photo-reflective sensors attached to a wearable device. In the learning phase, our method constructs a regression model by using the data on hand posture captured by a depth camera and data on the skin deformation of the back of the hand captured by several photoreflective sensors. In the estimation phase, by using this regression model, the posture of the hand is reconstructed from the data of the photo-reflective sensors in real-time. The posture of fingers can be estimated without hindering the natural movement of the fingers since the deformation of the back of the hand is measured without directly measuring the position of the fingers. This method can be used by users to manipulate information in a virtual environment with their fingers. We conducted an experiment to evaluate the accuracy of reconstructing hand posture with the proposed system.
Archives of Thrill: The V-Armchair Experience
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Passmore, Peter J.; Tennent, Paul; Walker, Brendan; Philpot, Adam; Le, Ha; Markowski, Marianne; Karamanoglu, Mehmet; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Technology for older people is typically concerned either with health care or accessibility of existing systems. In this paper we take a more 'entertainment-oriented' approach to developing experiences aimed at older users. We describe here the design, development and a user study of the V-Armchair, a virtual reality and motion platform based roller coaster experience. The V-Armchair constitutes a blueprint for the digital archiving of physical ride experiences through the simultaneous capture of 360 video, sound and motion. It gives access to thrill experiences to those who may not be able to go on real thrill rides, such as older riders, and it can be considered as a class of technology that could help to support 'active aging' as defined by the World Health Organisation. We discuss strategies for capturing and then 'toning down' motion experiences to make them accessible for older users. We present a study which explores the user experience of the V-Armchair with an older group (median age 63) using a DK2 headset, and a younger group (median age 25) using a CV1 headset, via thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and a modified version of the Game Experience Questionnaire, and discuss emergent themes such as the role of the presenter, reminiscence, presence and immersion.
Assessing the Relevance of Eye Gaze Patterns During Collision Avoidance in Virtual Reality
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Varma, Kamala; Guy, Stephen J.; Interrante, Victoria; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
To increase presence in virtual reality environments requires a meticulous imitation of human behavior in virtual agents. In the specific case of collision avoidance, agents' interaction will feel more natural if they are able to both display and respond to non-verbal cues. This study informs their behavior by analyzing participants' reaction to nonverbal cues. Its aim is to confirm previous work that shows head orientation to be a primary factor in collision avoidance negotiation, and to extend this to investigate the additional contribution of eye gaze direction as a cue. Fifteen participants were directed to walk towards an oncoming agent in a virtual hallway, who would exhibit various combinations of head orientation and eye gaze direction based cues. Closely prior to the potential collision the display turned black and the participant had to move in avoidance of the agent as if she were still present. Meanwhile, their own eye gaze was tracked to identify where their focus was directed and how it related to their response. Results show that the natural tendency was to avoid the agent by moving right. However, participants showed a greater compulsion to move leftward if the agent cued her own movement to the participant's right, whether through head orientation cues (consistent with previous work) or through eye gaze direction cues (extending previous work). The implications of these findings are discussed.
Asymmetric Bimanual Interaction for Mobile Virtual Reality
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Bai, Huidong; Nassani, Alaeddin; Ens, Barrett; Billinghurst, Mark; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
In this paper, we explore asymmetric bimanual interaction with mobile Virtual Reality (VR). We have developed a novel two handed interface for mobile VR which uses a 6 degree of freedom (DoF) controller input for the dominant hand and full-hand gesture input for the non-dominant hand. We evaluated our method in a pilot study by comparing it to three other asymmetric bimanual interfaces (1) 3D controller and 2D touch-pad, (2) 3D gesture and 2D controller, and (3) 3D gesture and 2D touchpad in a VR translation and rotation task.We observed that using our position aware handheld controller with gesture input provided an easy and natural experience.
An Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Pillar for Exhibitions: A Subjective Exploration
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) See, Zi Siang; Sunar, Mohd Shahrizal; Billinghurst, Mark; Dey, Arindam; Santano, Delas; Esmaeili, Human; Thwaites, Harold; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
This paper presents the development of an Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (AR) pillar, a novel approach for showing AR and VR content in a public setting. A pillar in a public exhibition venue was converted to a four-sided AR and VR showcase, and a cultural heritage exhibit of ''Boatbuilders of Pangkor'' was shown. Multimedia tablets and mobile AR head-mountdisplays (HMDs) were provided for visitors to experience multisensory AR and VR content demonstrated on the pillar. The content included AR-based videos, maps, images and text, and VR experiences that allowed visitors to view reconstructed 3D subjects and remote locations in a 360° virtual environment. In this paper, we describe the prototype system, a user evaluation study and directions for future work.
Collaborative View Configurations for Multi-user Interaction with a Wall-size Display
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Kim, Hyungon; Kim, Yeongmi; Lee, Gun A.; Billinghurst, Mark; Bartneck, Christoph; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
This paper explores the effects of different collaborative view configuration on face-to-face collaboration using a wall-size display and the relationship between view configuration and multi-user interaction. Three different view configurations (shared view, split screen, and split screen with navigation information) for multi-user collaboration with a wall-size display were introduced and evaluated in a user study. From the experiment results, several insights for designing a virtual environment with a wall-size display were discussed. The shared view configuration does not disturb collaboration despite control conflict and can provide an effective collaboration. The split screen view configuration can provide independent collaboration while it can take users' attention. The navigation information can reduce the interaction required for the navigational task while an overall interaction performance may not increase.
Development of Olfactory Display Using Solenoid Valves Controlled Atomization for High Concentration Scent Emission
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Ariyakul, Yossiri; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
This paper reports on the introduction of using atomization technique controlled by high-speed switching solenoid valves to present smells. Even though atomization has been widely used to release smells in commercial aroma diffusers, intensity of the released odor cannot be controlled. In this paper, the high speed ON/OFF switching of the solenoid valves enables the capability to control odor intensity precisely and rapidly and the atomization enables emission of high concentration odors compared with odors generated from natural evaporation method. The proposed olfactory display was evaluated by using an odor sensing system composed of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gas sensor. As a result, the reproducibility and the capability to present high concentration odors with adjustable intensity of the proposed olfactory display were confirmed.
Dwarf or Giant: The Influence of Interpupillary Distance and Eye Height on Size Perception in Virtual Environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Kim, Jangyoon; Interrante, Victoria; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
This paper addresses the question: to what extent can deliberate manipulations of interpupillary distance (IPD) and eye height be used in a virtual reality (VR) experience to influence a user's sense of their own scale with respect to their surrounding environment - evoking, for example, the illusion of being miniaturized, or of being a giant? In particular, we report the results of an experiment in which we separately study the effect of each of these body scale manipulations on users' perception of object size in a highly detailed, photorealistically rendered immersive virtual environment, using both absolute numeric measures and body-relative actions. Following a real world training session, in which participants learn to accurately report the metric sizes of individual white cubes (3''-20'') presented one at a time on a table in front of them, we conduct two blocks of VR trials using nine different combinations of IPD and eye height. In the first block of trials, participants report the perceived metric size of a virtual white cube that sits on a virtual table, at the same distance used in the real-world training, within in a realistic virtual living room filled with many objects capable of providing familiar size cues. In the second block of trials, participants use their hands to indicate the perceived size of the cube. We found that size judgments were moderately correlated (r = 0.4) between the two response methods, and that neither altered eye height (± 50cm) nor reduced (10mm) IPD had a significant effect on size judgments, but that a wider (150mm) IPD caused a significant (μ = 38%, p < 0.01) decrease in perceived cube size. These findings add new insights to our understanding of how eye height and IPD manipulations can affect peoples' perception of scale in highly realistic immersive VR scenarios.
The Effect of User Embodiment in AV Cinematic Experience
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Chen, Joshua; Lee, Gun A.; Billinghurst, Mark; Lindeman, Robert W.; Bartneck, Christoph; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming a popular medium for viewing immersive cinematic experiences using 360° panoramic movies and head mounted displays. There are previous research on user embodiment in real-time rendered VR, but not in relation to cinematic VR based on 360° panoramic video. In this paper we explore the effects of introducing the user's real body into cinematic VR experiences. We conducted a study evaluating how the type of movie and user embodiment affects the sense of presence and user engagement. We found that when participants were able to see their own body in the VR movie, there was significant increase in the sense of Presence, yet user engagement was not significantly affected. We discuss on the implications of the results and how it can be expanded in the future.
Effects of Personalized Avatar Texture Fidelity on Identity Recognition in Virtual Reality
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Thomas, Jerald; Azmandian, Mahdi; Grunwald, Sonia; Le, Donna; Krum, David; Kang, Sin-Hwa; Rosenberg, Evan Suma; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Recent advances in 3D scanning, reconstruction, and animation techniques have made it possible to rapidly create photorealistic avatars based on real people. While it is now possible to create personalized avatars automatically with consumer-level technology, their visual fidelity still falls far short of 3D avatars created with professional cameras and manual artist effort. To evaluate the importance of investing resources in the creation of high-quality personalized avatars, we conducted an experiment to investigate the effects of varying their visual texture fidelity, specifically focusing on identity recognition of specific individuals. We designed two virtual reality experimental scenarios: (1) selecting a specific avatar from a virtual lineup and (2) searching for an avatar in a virtual crowd. Our results showed that visual fidelity had a significant impact on participants' abilities to identify specific avatars from a lineup wearing a head-mounted display. We also investigated gender effects for both the participants and the confederates from which the avatars were created.
Enjoyment, Immersion, and Attentional Focus in a Virtual Reality Exergame with Differing Visual Environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Abernathy, Michael; Shaw, Lindsay A.; Lutteroth, Christof; Buckley, Jude; Corballis, Paul M.; Wünsche, Burkhard C.; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Virtual reality exergames provide a compelling distraction from the possible discomfort and negative perception of exercise by immersing users in three dimensional virtual worlds. Prior studies have looked at the effects of immersion in exergames, from the technologies used, to gameplay elements, to sensory stimulation. This study examines the level of immersion and distraction caused by various visual environments, including urban, rural, and desert landscapes, and the effects on users' performance, enjoyment, and motivation. The environments were found to have little effect on the user. It appears that the core gameplay elements have a far greater effect, being essential for the immersion a user experiences.
Ethical Considerations for the Use of Virtual Reality: An Evaluation of Practices in Academia and Industry
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Luro, Francisco Lopez; Prada, Diego Navarro; Sundstedt, Veronica; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
The following article offers a set of recommendations that are considered relevant for designing and executing experiences with Virtual Reality (VR) technology. It presents a brief review of the history and evolution of VR, along with the physiological issues related to its use. Additionally, typical practices in VR, used by both academia and industry are discussed and contrasted. These were further analysed from an ethical perspective, guided by legal and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) frameworks, to understand their motivation and goals, and the rights and responsibilities related to the exposure of research participants and final consumers to VR. Our results showed that there is a significant disparity between practices in academia and industry, and for industry specifically, there can be breaches of user protection regulations and poor ethical practices. The differences found are mainly in regards to the type of content presented, the overall setup of VR experiences, and the amount of information provided to participants or consumers respectively. To contribute to this issue, this study highlights some ethical aspects and also offers practical considerations that aim, not only to have more appropriate practices with VR in public spaces but also to motivate a discussion and reflection to ease the adoption of this technology in the consumer market.
Evaluating and Comparing Game-controller based Virtual Locomotion Techniques
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Sarupuri, Bhuvaneswari; Hoermann, Simon; Whitton, Mary C.; Lindeman, Robert W.; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
The incremental hardware costs of virtual locomotion are minimized when the technique uses interaction capabilities available in controllers and devices that are already part of the VE system, e.g., gamepads, keyboards, and multi-function controllers. We used a different locomotion technique for each of these three devices: gamepad thumb-stick (joystick walking), a customized hybrid keyboard for gaming (speedpad walking), and an innovative technique that uses the orientation and triggers of the HTC Vive controllers (TriggerWalking). We explored the efficacy of locomotion techniques using these three devices in a hide and seek task in an indoor environment. We measured task performance, simulator sickness, system usability, perceived workload, and preference. We found that users had a strong preference for TriggerWalking, which also had the least increase in simulator sickness, the highest performance score, and highest perceived usability. However, participants using TriggerWalking also had the most object and wall-collisions. Overall we found that TriggerWalking is an effective locomotion technique and that is has significant and important benefits. Future research will explore if TriggerWalking can be used with equal benefits in other virtual-environments, on different tasks, and types of movement.
Evaluating the Effects of Hand-gesture-based Interaction with Virtual Content in a 360° Movie
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Khan, Humayun; Lee, Gun A.; Hoermann, Simon; Clifford, Rory M. S.; Billinghurst, Mark; Lindeman, Robert W.; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Head-mounted displays are becoming increasingly popular as home entertainment devices for viewing 360° movies. This paper explores the effects of adding gesture interaction with virtual content and two different hand-visualisation modes for 360° movie watching experience. The system in the study comprises of a Leap Motion sensor to track the user's hand and finger motions, in combination with a SoftKinetic RGB-D camera to capture the texture of the hands and arms. A 360° panoramic movie with embedded virtual objects was used as content. Four conditions, displaying either a point-cloud of the real hand or a rigged computer-generated hand, with and without interaction, were evaluated. Presence, agency, embodiment, and ownership, as well as the overall participant preference were measured. Results showed that participants had a strong preference for the conditions with interactive virtual content, and they felt stronger embodiment and ownership. The comparison of the two hand visualisations showed that the display of the real hand elicited stronger ownership. There was no overall difference for presence between the four conditions. These findings suggest that adding interaction with virtual content could be beneficial to the overall user experience, and that interaction should be performed using the real hand visualisation instead of the virtual hand if higher ownership is desired.
Exploring Pupil Dilation in Emotional Virtual Reality Environments
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Chen, Hao; Dey, Arindam; Billinghurst, Mark; Lindeman, Robert W.; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Previous investigations have shown that pupil dilation can be affected by emotive pictures, audio clips, and videos. In this paper, we explore how emotive Virtual Reality (VR) content can also cause pupil dilation. VR has been shown to be able to evoke negative and positive arousal in users when they are immersed in different virtual scenes. In our research, VR scenes were used as emotional triggers. Five emotional VR scenes were designed in our study and each scene had five emotion segments; happiness, fear, anxiety, sadness, and disgust. When participants experienced the VR scenes, their pupil dilation and the brightness in the headset were captured. We found that both the negative and positive emotion segments produced pupil dilation in the VR environments. We also explored the effect of showing heart beat cues to the users, and if this could cause difference in pupil dilation. In our study, three different heart beat cues were shown to users using a combination of three channels; haptic, audio, and visual. The results showed that the haptic-visual cue caused the most significant pupil dilation change from the baseline.
Facial Performance Capture by Embedded Photo Reflective Sensors on A Smart Eyewear
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Asano, Nao; Masai, Katsutoshi; Sugiura, Yuta; Sugimoto, Maki; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Facial performance capture is used for animation production that projects a performer's facial expression to a computer graphics model. Retro-reflective markers and cameras are widely used for the performance capture. To capture expressions, we need to place markers on the performer's face and calibrate the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of cameras in advance. However, the measurable space is limited to the calibrated area. In this paper, we propose a system to capture facial performance using a smart eyewear with photo reflective sensors and machine learning technique.
Fast and Accurate Simulation of Gravitational Field of Irregular-shaped Bodies using Polydisperse Sphere Packings
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Srinivas, Abhishek; Weller, Rene; Zachmann, Gabriel; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Currently, interest in space missions to small bodies (e.g., asteroids) is increasing, both scientifically and commercially. One of the important aspects of these missions is to test the navigation, guidance, and control algorithms. The most cost and time efficient way to do this is to simulate the missions in virtual testbeds. To do so, a physically-based simulation of the small bodies' physical properties is essential. One of the most important physical properties, especially for landing operations, is the gravitational field, which can be quite irregular, depending on the shape and mass distribution of the body. In this paper, we present a novel algorithm to simulate gravitational fields for small bodies like asteroids. The main idea is to represent the small body's mass by a polydisperse sphere packing. This allows for an easy and efficient parallelization. Our GPU-based implementation outperforms traditional methods by more than two orders of magnitude while achieving a similar accuracy.
ICAT-EGVE 2017: Frontmatter
(Eurographics Association, 2017) Lindeman, Robert W.; Bruder, Gerd; Iwai, Daisuke; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
Improving Collaboration in Augmented Video Conference using Mutually Shared Gaze
(The Eurographics Association, 2017) Lee, Gun A.; Kim, Seungwon; Lee, Youngho; Dey, Arindam; Piumsomboon, Thammathip; Norman, Mitchell; Billinghurst, Mark; Robert W. Lindeman and Gerd Bruder and Daisuke Iwai
To improve remote collaboration in video conferencing systems, researchers have been investigating augmenting visual cues onto a shared live video stream. In such systems, a person wearing a head-mounted display (HMD) and camera can share her view of the surrounding real-world with a remote collaborator to receive assistance on a real-world task. While this concept of augmented video conferencing (AVC) has been actively investigated, there has been little research on how sharing gaze cues might affect the collaboration in video conferencing. This paper investigates how sharing gaze in both directions between a local worker and remote helper in an AVC system affects the collaboration and communication. Using a prototype AVC system that shares the eye gaze of both users, we conducted a user study that compares four conditions with different combinations of eye gaze sharing between the two users. The results showed that sharing each other's gaze significantly improved collaboration and communication.

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