Depth Perception in Virtual Environments

Objectives

The perception of movement results from a combination of cues from several senses. It is a great challenge to adequately reproduce those cues within a virtual environment. Therefore an important question is: which cues are necessary to produce a realistic simulation in Virtual Reality (VR) and how can they be simulated?

Within the scope of a cooperative research project with scientists from the York Centre for Vision Research in Toronto, Canada, the following questions will be explored:

• What is the influence of the different cues (e.g. visual, audio, physical, etc.) on depth perception?
• Are there cues that are fundamental for a reliable depth perception - and  others that have less impact?
• How can those cues be represented adequately?
• What is the impact of different ways of moving in VR (e.g. active vs. passive, with vs. without acceleration, etc.)?
• Is the effect of the cues for self motion and three dimensional depth perception the same in different virtual environments?

Components

• Immersive visualization environments with multiple projection screens (“Immersion Square“,“FIVISquare“, “IVY“)
• Bicycle with sensors and controllable braking and pedalling resistance
• VR-equipped tricycle at York University
• Tracking system for gaze tracking

Collaboration

This interdisciplinary collaboration brings together scientists from different research fields (Computer Science, Cognitive Psychology, VR-Technology and Human-Machine-Interaction) in Canada and Germany. In addition to the broad research background of the team, the collaboration brings together a unique collection of research devices and technologies to explore the perception of self motion. The available VR environments include the “Immersion Square“ and the “FIVISquare“ at Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences with three projection screens; and the Immersive Virtual Environment at York University, Toronto (“IVY“), a room in which all walls, ceiling and floor are display surfaces.

Acknowledgement

Financially supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation