Does the Quality of the Computer Graphics Matter when Judging Distances in Visually Immersive Environments?

In the real world, people are quite accurate in judging distances to locations in the environment, at least for targets resting on the ground plane and distances out to about 20 m. Distance judgments in visually immersive environments are much less accurate. Several studies have now shown that in visually immersive environments, the world appears significantly smaller than intended. This study investigates whether or not the compression in apparent distances is the result of the low-quality computer graphics utilized in previous investigations. Visually directed triangulated walking was used to assess distance judgments in the real world and in three virtual environments with graphical renderings of varying quality.

[1]  Stephen R. Ellis,et al.  Judgments of the Distance to Nearby Virtual Objects: Interaction of Viewing Conditions and Accommodative Demand , 1997, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[2]  Wallace J. Sadowski,et al.  Nonvisually Guided Locomotion to a Previously Viewed Target in Real and Virtual Environments , 1998, Hum. Factors.

[3]  J. Loomis,et al.  Immersive virtual environment technology as a basic research tool in psychology , 1999, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[4]  Ramesh Raskar,et al.  Image precision silhouette edges , 1999, SI3D.

[5]  Mark Mon-Williams,et al.  Natural problems for stereoscopic depth perception in virtual environments , 1995, Vision Research.

[6]  Jannick P. Rolland,et al.  Towards Quantifying Depth and Size Perception in Virtual Environments , 1993, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[7]  J. Loomis,et al.  Visual space perception and visually directed action. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[8]  Anne E. Garing,et al.  Calibration of human locomotion and models of perceptual-motor organization. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[9]  James P. Bliss,et al.  Distance Estimation in Virtual Environments , 1995 .

[10]  J. Philbeck,et al.  Visual Perception of Location and Distance , 1996 .

[11]  S S Fukusima,et al.  Visual perception of egocentric distance as assessed by triangulation. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[12]  M. Wraga.  Using eye height in different postures to scale the heights of objects. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[13]  Peter Willemsen,et al.  Perceived egocentric distances in real, image-based, and traditional virtual environments , 2002, Proceedings IEEE Virtual Reality 2002.

[14]  Jack M. Loomis,et al.  Limited Field of View of Head-Mounted Displays Is Not the Cause of Distance Underestimation in Virtual Environments , 2004, Presence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments.

[15]  J. Thomson.  Is continuous visual monitoring necessary in visually guided locomotion? , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[16]  Jack M. Loomis,et al.  Visual perception of egocentric distance in real and virtual environments. , 2003 .

[17]  D. Proffitt,et al.  Eye height scaling of absolute size in immersive and nonimmersive displays. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[18]  Joshua Maclvor Knapp,et al.  The visual perception of egocentric distance in virtual environments , 2002 .

[19]  John J. Rieser,et al.  The recalibration of rotational locomotion , 1999 .

[20]  John M Foley,et al.  Visual perception of extent and the geometry of visual space , 2004, Vision Research.

[21]  G P Bingham,et al.  Accommodation, occlusion, and disparity matching are used to guide reaching: a comparison of actual versus virtual environments. , 2001, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[22]  J. Lackner,et al.  Altered sensory-motor control of the head as an etiological factor in space-motion sickness. , 1989, Perceptual and motor skills.

[23]  J. Philbeck,et al.  Dissociation between location and shape in visual space. , 2002, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[24]  G J Andersen,et al.  Effects of Collimation on Perceived Layout in 3-D Scenes , 1998, Perception.

[25]  John P. Lewis,et al.  Perceptuomotor adaptation: more than meets the eye , 2002 .

[26]  J R Lackner,et al.  Altered sensorimotor control of the body as an etiological factor in space motion sickness. , 1991, Aviation, space, and environmental medicine.

[27]  Jack M. Loomis,et al.  Absolute motion parallax weakly determines visual scale in real and virtual environments , 1995, Electronic Imaging.

[28]  Adam R. Richardson,et al.  The effect of feedback training on distance estimation in virtual environments , 2005 .

[29]  Zijiang J. He,et al.  Distance determined by the angular declination below the horizon , 2001, Nature.

[30]  J. Rieser,et al.  Visual Perception and the Guidance of Locomotion without Vision to Previously Seen Targets , 1990, Perception.

[31]  James E. Cutting,et al.  Perceiving Layout and Knowing Distances , 1995 .