Telling Stories within Immersive Virtual Environments

Leonardo ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 471-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Llobera ◽  
Kristopher J. Blom ◽  
Mel Slater
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual Characters ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Freedom Of Action

Portraying an unfolding story within an immersive virtual environment (IVE) is difficult: In an IVE, participants can pay attention to and interact with whatever they choose within the scene. Moreover, the decisions taken by virtual characters must appear consistent with their personalities and motivations but also take into account the human participants' actions, whenever relevant. Finally, the results of the interactions should satisfy a pre-established plot. In this article, the authors introduce a new two-part approach that addresses the dilemma regarding freedom of action and narrative.

Finding the Value of Immersive, Virtual Environments Using Competitive Usability Analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt M. Satter ◽  
Alley C. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Cost Avoidance ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Usability Analysis

Competitive usability studies are employed providing empirical results in a design evaluation and review context. Populations of novice and experienced users are tested against benchmarks. Benchmark 1 is used to evaluate error identification and correction. Benchmark 2 is employed to evaluate the user’s ability to understand spatial relationships. Both benchmarks 1 and 2 compare individual performance with performance of teams. Benchmarks 3 measures quantity of errors found in a 4 min time frame. For benchmark 1, there is a statistically significant difference, but for benchmark 2, there is no statistical difference. For benchmark 3, there is a statistically significant increase in errors found. This increase is evaluated for impact as cost avoidance. It is concluded that cost avoidance by using a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE) immersive virtual environment easily justifies the CAVE system.

scholarly journals Towards a Model of User Experience in Immersive Virtual Environments

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy Tcha-Tokey ◽  
Olivier Christmann ◽  
Emilie Loup-Escande ◽  
Guillaume Loup ◽  
Simon Richir
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Learning Environments ◽  
User Experience ◽  
User Study ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Immersive Environments ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Emotion Experience

There are increasing new advances in virtual reality technologies as well as a rise in learning virtual environments for which several studies highlighted the pedagogical value, knowledge transfer, and learners’ engaged-behaviors. Moreover, the notion of user experience is now abundant in the scientific literature without the fact that there are specific models for immersive environments. This paper aims at proposing and validating a model of User eXperience in Immersive Virtual Environment, including virtual learning environments. The model is composed of 10 components extracted from existing models (i.e., presence, engagement, immersion, flow, usability, skill, emotion, experience consequence, judgement, and technology adoption). It was validated in a user study involving 152 participants who were asked to use the edutainment application Think and Shoot and to complete an immersive virtual environment questionnaire. The findings lead us to a modified user experience model questioning new paths between user experience components (e.g., the influence of experience consequence on flow).

The Independent and Interactive Effects of Embodied-Agent Appearance and Behavior on Self-Report, Cognitive, and Behavioral Markers of Copresence in Immersive Virtual Environments

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy N. Bailenson ◽  
Kim Swinth ◽  
Crystal Hoyt ◽  
Susan Persky ◽  
Alex Dimov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Behavioral Markers ◽  
Embodied Agent

The current study examined how assessments of copresence in an immersive virtual environment are influenced by variations in how much an embodied agent resembles a human being in appearance and behavior. We measured the extent to which virtual representations were both perceived and treated as if they were human via self-report, behavioral, and cognitive dependent measures. Distinctive patterns of findings emerged with respect to the behavior and appearance of embodied agents depending on the definition and operationalization of copresence. Independent and interactive effects for appearance and behavior were found suggesting that assessing the impact of behavioral realism on copresence without taking into account the appearance of the embodied agent (and vice versa) can lead to misleading conclusions. Consistent with the results of previous research, copresence was lowest when there was a large mismatch between the appearance and behavioral realism of an embodied agent.

scholarly journals Proposition and Validation of a Questionnaire to Measure the User Experience in Immersive Virtual Environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy Tcha-Tokey ◽  
Olivier Christmann ◽  
Emilie Loup-Escande ◽  
Simon Richir
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Item Analysis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Emotion Experience ◽  
Scale Scores ◽  
Insight Into

There are increasing new advances in virtual reality technologies as well as a rise in immersive virtual environments research and user experience research. Within this framework, we decided to address the overall user experience in immersive virtual environments. Indeed, in our point of view, this topic is not fully dealt with in the scientific literature, neither in terms of user experience components nor in terms of user experience measurement methods. It is in this context that we conducted a study aiming at proposing and validating a unified questionnaire on user experience in immersive virtual environment(IVEQ). Our questionnaire contains 10 subscales measuring presence, engagement, immersion, flow, usability, skill, emotion, experience consequence, judgement and technology adoption. The construction of our questionnaire was based on existing ones. It was tested on 116 participants after they use the edutainment virtual environment "Think and Shoot". Results show that 9 out of 10 subscales and 68 out of 87 items are reliable as demonstrated by an internal consistency analysis with Cronbach's alpha and an item analysis. Findings also indicate that the scale scores from 6 subscales are considered normal distributed (e.g. presence) whereas the scale scores from 3 subscales are considered negatively skewed (e.g. skill). This study provides important new insight into UX in IVEs assessment.

scholarly journals The Effects of Witness Viewpoint Distance, Angle, and Choice on Eyewitness Accuracy in Police Lineups Conducted in Immersive Virtual Environments

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 242-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy N. Bailenson ◽  
Alexandra Davies ◽  
Jim Blascovich ◽  
Andrew C. Beall ◽  
Cade McCall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Eyewitness Identification ◽  
Eyewitness Testimony ◽  
Sequential Lineups ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Eyewitness Accuracy ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Improved Accuracy

The current study investigated the value of using immersive virtual environment technology as a tool for assessing eyewitness identification. Participants witnessed a staged crime and then examined sequential lineups within immersive virtual environments that contained 3D virtual busts of the suspect and six distractors. Participants either had unlimited viewpoints of the busts in terms of angle and distance, or a unitary view at only a single angle and distance. Furthermore, participants either were allowed to choose the angle and distance of the viewpoints they received, or were given viewpoints without choice. Results demonstrated that unlimited viewpoints improved accuracy in suspect-present lineups but not in suspect-absent lineups. Furthermore, across conditions, post-hoc measurements demonstrated that when the chosen view of the suspect during the lineup was similar to the view during the staged crime in terms of distance, accuracy improved. Finally, participants were more accurate in suspect-absent lineups than in suspect-present lineups. Implications of the findings in terms of theories of eyewitness testimony are discussed, as well as the value of using virtual lineups that elicit high levels of presence in the field. We conclude that digital avatars of higher fidelity may be necessary before actually implementing virtual lineups.

Visiting Tourist Landmarks in Virtual Reality Systems by Real-Walking

2010 ◽  
pp. 180-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Steinicke ◽  
G. Bruder ◽  
J. Jerald ◽  
H. Frenz
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Interaction Space ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Redirected Walking ◽  
Virtual City

In recent years virtual environments (VEs) have become more and more popular and widespread due to the requirements of numerous application areas in particular in the 3D city visualization domain. Virtual reality (VR) systems, which make use of tracking technologies and stereoscopic projections of three-dimensional synthetic worlds, support better exploration of complex datasets. However, due to the limited interaction space usually provided by the range of the tracking sensors, users can explore only a portion of the virtual environment (VE). Redirected walking allows users to walk through large-scale immersive virtual environments (IVEs) such as virtual city models, while physically remaining in a reasonably small workspace by intentionally injecting scene motion into the IVE. With redirected walking users are guided on physical paths that may differ from the paths they perceive in the virtual world. The authors have conducted experiments in order to quantify how much humans can unknowingly be redirected. In this chapter they present the results of this study and the implications for virtual locomotion user interfaces that allow users to view arbitrary real world locations, before the users actually travel there in a natural environment.

The Modulation of Ownership and Agency in the Virtual Hand Illusion under Visuotactile and Visuomotor Sensory Feedback

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Padilla-Castañeda ◽  
Antonio Frisoli ◽  
Silvia Pabon ◽  
Massimo Bergamasco
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Hand ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Upper Limb Movements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Natural Tasks

It is well known by the virtual hand illusion (VHI) that simultaneous and synchronous visuotactile sensory feedback within a virtual environment elicits the feeling of ownership of a virtual hand, by observing for some seconds in a scene a virtual hand being touched while at the same time receiving tactile stimulation on the real hand in the corresponding positions. In this paper, we investigate possible modulations in the feeling of ownership (sensation of owning a virtual hand) and of agency (sensation of owning virtual movements and actions) according to whether or not the participant's own motor acts (1) induce coherent self-activated visuotactile sensory stimulations; and (2) generate plausible consequences in the simulated environment. For this purpose, we elicited the VHI within a group of participants through a cross-modal integration of visuo-tactile sensory stimulations within a dynamic and physically plausible immersive virtual environment, where they were able to perform natural tasks in both passive and active agency conditions. Our results indicate that both feelings of ownership and agency can be achieved in immersive virtual environments, when the subject is realistically interacting and performing natural upper limb movements. We did not observe any significant difference in the VHI in terms of ownership and agency between the active and passive conditions, but we observed that a physically incongruent simulated interaction with the virtual world can lead to a significant disruption of ownership. Moreover, in the passive agency condition, a plausible physical behavior of the virtual hand was sufficient to elicit a partially complete sense of ownership, if measured in terms of proprioceptive drift, even in the presence of an asynchronous visuotactile sensory feedback. All these findings suggest that the multisensory feedback associated with a subject's own actions and the physical plausibility of the environment both act as determinant factors, influencing and modulating the vividness of the VHI.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Authenticity of Virtual Environments: Comparison of Three Devices

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aila Kronqvist ◽  
Jussi Jokinen ◽  
Rebekah Rousi
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Simulator Sickness ◽  
Quality Of Results ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Head Mounted Display ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Insight Into

Immersive virtual environments (VEs) have the potential to provide novel cost effective ways for evaluating not only new environments and usability scenarios, but also potential user experiences. To achieve this, VEs must be adequately realistic. The level of perceived authenticity can be ascertained by measuring the levels of immersion people experience in their VE interactions. In this paper the degree of authenticity is measured via anauthenticity indexin relation to three different immersive virtual environment devices. These devices include (1) a headband, (2) 3D glasses, and (3) a head-mounted display (HMD). A quick scale for measuring immersion, feeling of control, and simulator sickness was developed and tested. The HMD proved to be the most immersive device, although the headband was demonstrated as being a more stable environment causing the least simulator sickness. The results have design implication as they provide insight into specific factors which make experience in a VE seem more authentic to users. The paper emphasizes that, in addition to the quality of the VE, focus needs to be placed on ergonomic factors such as the weight of the devices, as these may compromise the quality of results obtained when examining studying human-technology interaction in a VE.

scholarly journals The Factor Structure of the Presence Questionnaire

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob G. Witmer ◽  
Christian J. Jerome ◽  
Michael J. Singer
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Valid Measure ◽  
Interface Quality ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Best Fit

Constructing a valid measure of presence and discovering the factors that contribute to presence have been much sought after goals of presence researchers and at times have generated controversy among them. This paper describes the results of principal-components analyses of Presence Questionnaire (PQ) data from 325 participants following exposure to immersive virtual environments. The analyses suggest that a 4-factor model provides the best fit to our data. The factors are Involvement, Adaptation/Immersion, Sensory Fidelity, and Interface Quality. Except for the Adaptation/Immersion factor, these factors corresponded to those identified in a cluster analysis of data from an earlier version of the questionnaire. The existence of an Adaptation/Immersion factor leads us to postulate that immersion is greater for those individuals who rapidly and easily adapt to the virtual environment. The magnitudes of the correlations among the factors indicate moderately strong relationships among the 4 factors. Within these relationships, Sensory Fidelity items seem to be more closely related to Involvement, whereas Interface Quality items appear to be more closely related to Adaptation/Immersion, even though there is a moderately strong relationship between the Involvement and Adaptation/Immersion factors.

scholarly journals Distance Compression in the HTC Vive Pro: A Quick Revisitation of Resolution

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Buck ◽  
Richard Paris ◽  
Bobby Bodenheimer
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Distance Perception ◽  
Spatial Perception ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Extensive Study ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Two Systems

Spatial perception in immersive virtual environments, particularly regarding distance perception, is a well-studied topic in virtual reality literature. Distance compression, or the underestimation of distances, is and has been historically prevalent in all virtual reality systems. The problem of distance compression still remains open, but recent advancements have shown that as systems have developed, the level of distance compression has decreased. Here, we add evidence to this trend by beginning the assessment of distance compression in the HTC Vive Pro. To our knowledge, there are no archival results that report any findings about distance compression in this system. Using a familiar paradigm for studying distance compression in virtual reality hardware, we asked users to blind walk to a target object placed in a virtual environment and assessed their judgments based on those distances. We find that distance compression in the HTC Vive Pro mirrors that of the HTC Vive. Our results are not particularly surprising, considering the nature of the differences between the two systems, but they lend credence to the finding that resolution does not affect distance compression. More extensive study should be performed to reinforce these results.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document