Dynamic Focus Selection for First-Person Navigation with Head Mounted Displays

The increase of Head Mounted Display systems in games is a natural tendency for the next generation of digital entertainment. While the immersion produced by those devices is high, discomfort is still a problem pointed by many users. In such context, this work proposes to reduce the discomfort caused by the lack of focus in these display interfaces. More specifically, we propose a dynamic selection of focus elements aiming to reduce visual discomfort in firstperson navigation through immersive virtual environments (Figure 1). Behind the proposed effect, a heuristic model of visual attention is proposed sustaining a real-time selection of the on focus target. While most approaches use a simple point and focus selection, our solution creates a novel and more precise focus selection, considering different scene elements and attributes. A case of study of the model was made developing a component for a commercial game engine. It was tested by a set of users that explore a virtual scene using the Oculus Rift with and without the proposed visual effect. Positive qualitative results based on questionnaires confirmed discomfort reduction when using our solution.