MetaSpace II: Object and full-body tracking for interaction and navigation in social VR

MetaSpace II (MS2) is a social Virtual Reality (VR) system where multiple users can not only see and hear but also interact with each other, grasp and manipulate objects, walk around in space, and get tactile feedback. MS2 allows walking in physical space by tracking each user's skeleton in real-time and allows users to feel by employing passive haptics i.e., when users touch or manipulate an object in the virtual world, they simultaneously also touch or manipulate a corresponding object in the physical world. To enable these elements in VR, MS2 creates a correspondence in spatial layout and object placement by building the virtual world on top of a 3D scan of the real world. Through the association between the real and virtual world, users are able to walk freely while wearing a head-mounted device, avoid obstacles like walls and furniture, and interact with people and objects. Most current virtual reality (VR) environments are designed for a single user experience where interactions with virtual objects are mediated by hand-held input devices or hand gestures. Additionally, users are only shown a representation of their hands in VR floating in front of the camera as seen from a first person perspective. We believe, representing each user as a full-body avatar that is controlled by natural movements of the person in the real world (see Figure 1d), can greatly enhance believability and a user's sense immersion in VR.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Video: http://living.media.mit.edu/projects/metaspace-ii

Understanding the use of Virtual Reality in Marketing: a text mining-based review

The current study intends to highlight the most relevant studies in simulated realities with special attention to VR and marketing, showing how studies have evolved over time and discussing the findings. A text-mining approach using a Bayesian statistical topic model called latent Dirichlet allocation is employed to conduct a comprehensive analysis of 150 articles from 115 journals, all indexed in Web of Science. The findings reveal seven relevant topics, as well as the number of articles published over time, the authors most cited in VR papers and the leading journals in each topic. The article also provides theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for further research.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

A telepresence environment for concurrent life-cycle design and construction

Construction projects normally involve transient 'virtual organisations', where a multidisciplinary project team works together on the design and construction of a facility. Many of these participants often work independently while taking decisions that inevitably affect others. The research described in the thesis involved examining the adoption of concurrent engineering (CE) principles by the construction industry as a way to reduce the problems posed by the fragmentation of the industry, and to enhance its competitiveness. An important aspect of concurrent engineering in construction is the need for effective communication of design information between all members of the project team and across all stages of the constructed facility's life-cycle. The thesis describes the development of a communications infrastructure for Concurrent Life-Cycle Design and Construction. [Continues.

Store layout effects on consumer behavior in 3D online stores

Purpose: Positioned in the e-retailing field, this study aims to investigate the effect of the retail store’s atmosphere on consumer behavior in 3D online shopping environments, focusing on store layout as a critical influential factor. Design/methodology/approach: The research uses a mixed research method approach that includes two complementary studies. First, a three-round Delphi study with domain experts is used to develop a store layout classification scheme (Study 1), resulting in five distinct types of store layout. Subsequently, 3D online retail stores that use the five layouts are designed and developed. These serve as treatments of a laboratory experimental design, which is used to assess layout impact on a number of attitudinal and behavioral variables (Study 2). Findings: Five distinct types of store layout have been identified in Study 1, and their distinctive features are presented. The findings of Study 2 indicate that online shopping enjoyment, entertainment and ease of navigation are influenced by the store layout types of 3D online environments. Specifically, the “avant-garde” layout type facilitates the ease of navigation of customers in the store and provides a superior online customer experience. The “warehouse”’ adopts long aisles for the display of products, which simplifies the comparison of products, whereas the “boutique” layout was found to be the best in terms of shopping enjoyment and entertainment. The “department” layout shares many common characteristics with traditional department stores, providing an entertaining and enjoyable store, whereas the “pragmatic” layout emphasizes low system requirements. Practical implications: The paper presents characteristics that make store layouts effective for different aspects of online customers’ experience and identifies opportunities that 3D online store designers and retailers can explore for the provision of enhanced, customized services to online customers. Originality/value: This paper examines recent technological developments in store design and visual merchandising. It identifies five layout types of 3D online stores, which are different from those of brick–and–mortar and 2D online stores, and investigates their impact on consumer behavior. Further, the paper examines how each layout type influences online shopping enjoyment, entertainment, ease of navigation, online customer experience and, in turn, purchase and word-of-mouth intentions. Finally, the paper examines the moderating role of telepresence. Individuals with high sense of telepresence conceive 3D environments as “real” and are more concerned about the attributes that trigger the sense of enjoyment they experience while browsing

Beauty is in the Eye of the Controller: Designing Avatars for the Actual and Ideal Self

As metaverses are growing users need self-avatars to complete more and more tasks, such as virtual clothing-try-on or virtual work-meetings. To design these self-avatars the application of self-congruity theory suggests that avatars\u27 appearance should ei-her be congruent with users’ actual view of themselves or ideal view of themselves. Past research has focused on comparing outcomes of using idealised avatars versus realistic avatars. Yet, it remains unclear what constitutes the ideal versus the actual self in avatar design. This short paper represents ongoing research to develop a theoretical avatar design framework to evoke either users\u27 ideal or actual self. Building on evolutionary and computational approaches to facial beauty, we identify three groups of design factors that stimulate the ideal self: skin-homogeneity, face-symmetry, and balanced face-ratios. This work advances our understanding of the antecedents of the ideal versus actual self and makes self-congruity theory applicable to avatar design