Spherical tangible user interfaces in mixed reality

The popularity of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) has grown rapidly in recent years, both in academia and commercial applications. This is rooted in technological advances and affordable head-mounted displays (HMDs). Whether in games or professional applications, HMDs allow for immersive audio-visual experiences that transport users to compelling digital worlds or convincingly augment the real world. However, as true to life as these experiences have become in a visual and auditory sense, the question remains how we can model interaction with these virtual environments in an equally natural way. Solutions providing intuitive tangible interaction would bear the potential to fundamentally make the mixed reality (MR) spectrum more accessible, especially for novice users. Research on tangible user interfaces (TUIs) has pursued this goal by coupling virtual to real-world objects. Tangible interaction has been shown to provide significant advantages for numerous use cases. Spherical tangible user interfaces (STUIs) present a special case of these devices, mainly due to their ability to fully embody any spherical virtual content. In general, spherical devices increasingly transition from mere technology demonstrators to usable multi-modal interfaces. For this dissertation, we explore the application of STUIs in MR environments primarily by comparing them to state-of-the-art input techniques in four different contexts. Thus, investigating the questions of embodiment, overall user performance, and the ability of STUIs relying on their shape alone to support complex interaction techniques. First, we examine how spherical devices can embody immersive visualizations. In an initial study, we test the practicality of a tracked sphere embodying three kinds of visualizations. We examine simulated multi-touch interaction on a spherical surface and compare two different sphere sizes to VR controllers. Results confirmed our prototype's viability and indicate improved pattern recognition and advantages for the smaller sphere. Second, to further substantiate VR as a prototyping technology, we demonstrate how a large tangible spherical display can be simulated in VR. We show how VR can fundamentally extend the capabilities of real spherical displays by adding physical rotation to a simulated multi-touch surface. After a first study evaluating the general viability of simulating such a display in VR, our second study revealed the superiority of a rotating spherical display. Third, we present a concept for a spherical input device for tangible AR (TAR). We show how such a device can provide basic object manipulation capabilities utilizing two different modes and compare it to controller techniques with increasing hardware complexity. Our results show that our button-less sphere-based technique is only outperformed by a mode-less controller variant that uses physical buttons and a touchpad. Fourth, to study the intrinsic problem of VR locomotion, we explore two opposing approaches: a continuous and a discrete technique. For the first, we demonstrate a spherical locomotion device supporting two different locomotion paradigms that propel a user's first-person avatar accordingly. We found that a position control paradigm applied to a sphere performed mostly superior in comparison to button-supported controller interaction. For discrete locomotion, we evaluate the concept of a spherical world in miniature (SWIM) used for avatar teleportation in a large virtual environment. Results showed that users subjectively preferred the sphere-based technique over regular controllers and on average, achieved lower task times and higher accuracy. To conclude the thesis, we discuss our findings, insights, and subsequent contribution to our central research questions to derive recommendations for designing techniques based on spherical input devices and an outlook on the future development of spherical devices in the mixed reality spectrum.Die Popularität von Virtual Reality (VR) und Augmented Reality (AR) hat in den letzten Jahren rasant zugenommen, sowohl im akademischen Bereich als auch bei kommerziellen Anwendungen. Dies ist in erster Linie auf technologische Fortschritte und erschwingliche Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) zurückzuführen. Ob in Spielen oder professionellen Anwendungen, HMDs ermöglichen immersive audiovisuelle Erfahrungen, die uns in fesselnde digitale Welten versetzen oder die reale Welt überzeugend erweitern. Doch so lebensecht diese Erfahrungen in visueller und auditiver Hinsicht geworden sind, so bleibt doch die Frage, wie die Interaktion mit diesen virtuellen Umgebungen auf ebenso natürliche Weise gestaltet werden kann. Lösungen, die eine intuitive, greifbare Interaktion ermöglichen, hätten das Potenzial, das Spektrum der Mixed Reality (MR) fundamental zugänglicher zu machen, insbesondere für Unerfahrene. Die Forschung an Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) hat dieses Ziel durch das Koppeln virtueller und realer Objekte verfolgt und so hat sich gezeigt, dass greifbare Interaktion für zahlreiche Anwendungsfälle signifikante Vorteile bietet. Spherical Tangible User Interfaces (STUIs) stellen einen Spezialfall von greifbaren Interfaces dar, insbesondere aufgrund ihrer Fähigkeit, beliebige sphärische virtuelle Inhalte vollständig verkörpern zu können. Generell entwickeln sich sphärische Geräte zunehmend von reinen Technologiedemonstratoren zu nutzbaren multimodalen Instrumenten, die auf eine breite Palette von Interaktionstechniken zurückgreifen können. Diese Dissertation untersucht primär die Anwendung von STUIs in MR-Umgebungen durch einen Vergleich mit State-of-the-Art-Eingabetechniken in vier verschiedenen Kontexten. Dies ermöglicht die Erforschung der Bedeutung der Verkörperung virtueller Objekte, der Benutzerleistung im Allgemeinen und der Fähigkeit von STUIs, die sich lediglich auf ihre Form verlassen, komplexe Interaktionstechniken zu unterstützen. Zunächst erforschen wir, wie sphärische Geräte immersive Visualisierungen verkörpern können. Eine erste Studie ergründet die Praxistauglichkeit einer einfach konstruierten, getrackten Kugel, die drei Arten von Visualisierungen verkörpert. Wir testen simulierte Multi-Touch-Interaktion auf einer sphärischen Oberfläche und vergleichen zwei Kugelgrößen mit VR-Controllern. Die Ergebnisse bestätigten die Praxistauglichkeit des Prototyps und deuten auf verbesserte Mustererkennung sowie Vorteile für die kleinere Kugel hin. Zweitens, um die Validität von VR als Prototyping-Technologie zu bekräftigen, demonstrieren wir, wie ein großes, anfassbares sphärisches Display in VR simuliert werden kann. Es zeigt sich, wie VR die Möglichkeiten realer sphärischer Displays substantiell erweitern kann, indem eine simulierte Multi-Touch-Oberfläche um die Fähigkeit der physischen Rotation ergänzt wird. Nach einer ersten Studie, die die generelle Machbarkeit der Simulation eines solchen Displays in VR evaluiert, zeigte eine zweite Studie die Überlegenheit des drehbaren sphärischen Displays. Drittens präsentiert diese Arbeit ein Konzept für ein sphärisches Eingabegerät für Tangible AR (TAR). Wir zeigen, wie ein solches Werkzeug grundlegende Fähigkeiten zur Objektmanipulation unter Verwendung von zwei verschiedenen Modi bereitstellen kann und vergleichen es mit Eingabetechniken deren Hardwarekomplexität zunehmend steigt. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die kugelbasierte Technik, die ohne Knöpfe auskommt, nur von einer Controller-Variante übertroffen wird, die physische Knöpfe und ein Touchpad verwendet und somit nicht auf unterschiedliche Modi angewiesen ist. Viertens, um das intrinsische Problem der Fortbewegung in VR zu erforschen, untersuchen wir zwei gegensätzliche Ansätze: eine kontinuierliche und eine diskrete Technik. Für die erste präsentieren wir ein sphärisches Eingabegerät zur Fortbewegung, das zwei verschiedene Paradigmen unterstützt, die einen First-Person-Avatar entsprechend bewegen. Es zeigte sich, dass das Paradigma der direkten Positionssteuerung, angewandt auf einen Kugel-Controller, im Vergleich zu regulärer Controller-Interaktion, die zusätzlich auf physische Knöpfe zurückgreifen kann, meist besser abschneidet. Im Bereich der diskreten Fortbewegung evaluieren wir das Konzept einer kugelförmingen Miniaturwelt (Spherical World in Miniature, SWIM), die für die Avatar-Teleportation in einer großen virtuellen Umgebung verwendet werden kann. Die Ergebnisse zeigten eine subjektive Bevorzugung der kugelbasierten Technik im Vergleich zu regulären Controllern und im Durchschnitt eine schnellere Lösung der Aufgaben sowie eine höhere Genauigkeit. Zum Abschluss der Arbeit diskutieren wir unsere Ergebnisse, Erkenntnisse und die daraus resultierenden Beiträge zu unseren zentralen Forschungsfragen, um daraus Empfehlungen für die Gestaltung von Techniken auf Basis kugelförmiger Eingabegeräte und einen Ausblick auf die mögliche zukünftige Entwicklung sphärischer Eingabegräte im Mixed-Reality-Bereich abzuleiten

Virtual Reality and Choreographic Practice:The Potential for New Creative Methods

Virtual reality (VR) is becoming an increasingly intriguing space for dancers and choreographers. Choreographers may find new possibility emerging in using virtual reality to create movement and the WhoLoDancE: Whole-Body Interaction Learning for Dance Education project is developing tools to assist in this process. The interdisciplinary team which includes dancers, choreographers, educators, artists, coders, technologists and system architects have collaborated in engaging, discussing, analysing, testing and working with end-users to help with thinking about the issues that emerge in the creation of these tools. The paper sets out to explore the creative potential of VR in the context of WhoLoDancE and how this may offer new insights for the choreographer and dancer. We pay attention to the virtual environment, the virtual performance and the virtual dancer as some of the key components for equipping the choreographer to use in the creating process and to inform the dancing body. The cyclical process of live body to virtual, back to the dancing body as a choreographic device is an innovative way to approach practice. This approach may lead to new insights and innovations in choreographic methods that may extend beyond the project and ultimately take dance performance in a new direction

Enhancing Perception and Immersion in Pre-Captured Environments through Learning-Based Eye Height Adaptation

Pre-captured immersive environments using omnidirectional cameras provide a wide range of virtual reality applications. Previous research has shown that manipulating the eye height in egocentric virtual environments can significantly affect distance perception and immersion. However, the influence of eye height in pre-captured real environments has received less attention due to the difficulty of altering the perspective after finishing the capture process. To explore this influence, we first propose a pilot study that captures real environments with multiple eye heights and asks participants to judge the egocentric distances and immersion. If a significant influence is confirmed, an effective image-based approach to adapt pre-captured real-world environments to the user's eye height would be desirable. Motivated by the study, we propose a learning-based approach for synthesizing novel views for omnidirectional images with altered eye heights. This approach employs a multitask architecture that learns depth and semantic segmentation in two formats, and generates high-quality depth and semantic segmentation to facilitate the inpainting stage. With the improved omnidirectional-aware layered depth image, our approach synthesizes natural and realistic visuals for eye height adaptation. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation shows favorable results against state-of-the-art methods, and an extensive user study verifies improved perception and immersion for pre-captured real-world environments.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables, submitted to ISMAR 202

Immersion and interaction: Creating virtual 3d worlds for stage performances

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis formulates an approach towards the creation of a gesture activated and body movement controlled real time virtual 3d world in a dance performance context. It investigates immersion and navigation techniques derived from modern video games and methodologies and proposes how they can be used to further involve a performer into a virtual space as well as simultaneously offer a stimulating visual spectacle for an audience. The argument presented develops through practice-based methodology and artistic production strategies in interdisciplinary and collaborative contexts. Two choreographic performance/installations are used as cases studies to demonstrate in practice the proposed methodologies. First, the interactive dance work Suna No Onna, created in collaboration with Birringer/Danjoux and the Dap Lab, investigates the use of interactive pre-rendered animations in a real time setting and in real time by incorporating wearable sensors in the performance. Secondly, the potentials offered by the sensor technology and real time rendering engines led to the “creation scene", a key scene in the choreographic installation UKIYO (Moveable Worlds). This thesis investigates the design, creation and interaction qualities of virtual 3d spaces by exploring the potentialities offered by a shared space, between an intelligent space and a dancer in a hybrid world. The methodology applied uses as a theoretical base the phenomenological approach of Merleau-Ponty and Mark Hansen‟s mixed reality paradigm proposing the concept of the “space schema", a system which replicates and embeds proprioception, perception and motility into the space fabric offering a world which “lives”, functions and interacts with the performer. The outcome of the research is the generation of an interactive, non-linear, randomized 3d virtual space that collaborates with a technologically embedded performer in creating a 3d world which evolves and transforms, driven by the performer‟s intention and agency. This research contributes to the field of interactive performance art by making transparent the methodology, the instruments and the code used, in a non-technical terminology, making it accessible for both team members with less technological expertise as well as artists aspiring to engage interactive 3d media promoting further experimentation and conceptual discussions

What is XR? Towards a Framework for Augmented and Virtual Reality

Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality, and Extended Reality (often – misleadingly – abbreviated as XR) are commonly used terms to describe how technologies generate or modify reality. However, academics and professionals have been inconsistent in their use of these terms. This has led to conceptual confusion and unclear demarcations. Inspired by prior research and qualitative insights from XR professionals, we discuss the meaning and definitions of various terms and organize them in our proposed framework. As a result, we conclude that (1) XR should not be used to connote extended reality, but as a more open approach where the X implies the unknown variable: xReality; (2) AR and VR have fundamental differences and thus should be treated as different experiences; (3) AR experiences can be described on a continuum ranging from assisted reality to mixed reality (based on the level of local presence); and (4), VR experiences can be conceptualized on a telepresence-continuum ranging from atomistic to holistic VR

Exploring Virtual Reality and Doppelganger Avatars for the Treatment of Chronic Back Pain

Cognitive-behavioral models of chronic pain assume that fear of pain and subsequent avoidance behavior contribute to pain chronicity and the maintenance of chronic pain. In chronic back pain (CBP), avoidance of movements often plays a major role in pain perseverance and interference with daily life activities. In treatment, avoidance is often addressed by teaching patients to reduce pain behaviors and increase healthy behaviors. The current project explored the use of personalized virtual characters (doppelganger avatars) in virtual reality (VR), to influence motor imitation and avoidance, fear of pain and experienced pain in CBP. We developed a method to create virtual doppelgangers, to animate them with movements captured from real-world models, and to present them to participants in an immersive cave virtual environment (CAVE) as autonomous movement models for imitation. Study 1 investigated interactions between model and observer characteristics in imitation behavior of healthy participants. We tested the hypothesis that perceived affiliative characteristics of a virtual model, such as similarity to the observer and likeability, would facilitate observers’ engagement in voluntary motor imitation. In a within-subject design (N=33), participants were exposed to four virtual characters of different degrees of realism and observer similarity, ranging from an abstract stickperson to a personalized doppelganger avatar designed from 3d scans of the observer. The characters performed different trunk movements and participants were asked to imitate these. We defined functional ranges of motion (ROM) for spinal extension (bending backward, BB), lateral flexion (bending sideward, BS) and rotation in the horizontal plane (RH) based on shoulder marker trajectories as behavioral indicators of imitation. Participants’ ratings on perceived avatar appearance were recorded in an Autonomous Avatar Questionnaire (AAQ), based on an explorative factor analysis. Linear mixed effects models revealed that for lateral flexion (BS), a facilitating influence of avatar type on ROM was mediated by perceived identification with the avatar including avatar likeability, avatar-observer-similarity and other affiliative characteristics. These findings suggest that maximizing model-observer similarity may indeed be useful to stimulate observational modeling. Study 2 employed the techniques developed in study 1 with participants who suffered from CBP and extended the setup with real-world elements, creating an immersive mixed reality. The research question was whether virtual doppelgangers could modify motor behaviors, pain expectancy and pain. In a randomized controlled between-subject design, participants observed and imitated an avatar (AVA, N=17) or a videotaped model (VID, N=16) over three sessions, during which the movements BS and RH as well as a new movement (moving a beverage crate) were shown. Again, self-reports and ROMs were used as measures. The AVA group reported reduced avoidance with no significant group differences in ROM. Pain expectancy increased in AVA but not VID over the sessions. Pain and limitations did not significantly differ. We observed a moderation effect of group, with prior pain expectancy predicting pain and avoidance in the VID but not in the AVA group. This can be interpreted as an effect of personalized movement models decoupling pain behavior from movement-related fear and pain expectancy by increasing pain tolerance and task persistence. Our findings suggest that personalized virtual movement models can stimulate observational modeling in general, and that they can increase pain tolerance and persistence in chronic pain conditions. Thus, they may provide a tool for exposure and exercise treatments in cognitive behavioral treatment approaches to CBP

Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments

This open access book tackles the design of 3D spatial interactions in an audio-centered and audio-first perspective, providing the fundamental notions related to the creation and evaluation of immersive sonic experiences. The key elements that enhance the sensation of place in a virtual environment (VE) are: Immersive audio: the computational aspects of the acoustical-space properties of Virutal Reality (VR) technologies Sonic interaction: the human-computer interplay through auditory feedback in VE VR systems: naturally support multimodal integration, impacting different application domains Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments will feature state-of-the-art research on real-time auralization, sonic interaction design in VR, quality of the experience in multimodal scenarios, and applications. Contributors and editors include interdisciplinary experts from the fields of computer science, engineering, acoustics, psychology, design, humanities, and beyond. Their mission is to shape an emerging new field of study at the intersection of sonic interaction design and immersive media, embracing an archipelago of existing research spread in different audio communities and to increase among the VR communities, researchers, and practitioners, the awareness of the importance of sonic elements when designing immersive environments

Sonic interactions in virtual environments

This book tackles the design of 3D spatial interactions in an audio-centered and audio-first perspective, providing the fundamental notions related to the creation and evaluation of immersive sonic experiences. The key elements that enhance the sensation of place in a virtual environment (VE) are: Immersive audio: the computational aspects of the acoustical-space properties of Virutal Reality (VR) technologies Sonic interaction: the human-computer interplay through auditory feedback in VE VR systems: naturally support multimodal integration, impacting different application domains Sonic Interactions in Virtual Environments will feature state-of-the-art research on real-time auralization, sonic interaction design in VR, quality of the experience in multimodal scenarios, and applications. Contributors and editors include interdisciplinary experts from the fields of computer science, engineering, acoustics, psychology, design, humanities, and beyond. Their mission is to shape an emerging new field of study at the intersection of sonic interaction design and immersive media, embracing an archipelago of existing research spread in different audio communities and to increase among the VR communities, researchers, and practitioners, the awareness of the importance of sonic elements when designing immersive environments