Experiment Shows Stylized Rendering Enhances Presence in Immersive Augmented Reality
[Philip Lelyveld comment: the researcher found that if you use pass-through headsets and allow you to blend the real world image with virtual objects, and if you stylize the real world image so it starts to look like a virtual world, the viewer has an increased sense of 'presence,' she has a harder time telling what is real from what is virtual.]
In a paper published by the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, it is demonstrated that stylized rendering can help blur the boundary between real and virtual when it comes to immersive augmented reality applications.
In order to genuinely feel present in a virtual space, sensory patterns must stimulate the brain in specific ways resulting in a psychological response. To achieve this, latency needs to be low across the entire pipeline. Field of view needs to be large as well. This gives the person the ability to perceive like they are somewhere else.
William Steptoe is senior researcher in the Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics group at University College London; he recently posed the question, “What is presence in immersive augmented reality” in a post on his research blog. Previously, William detailed the process of how to design and build a stereo camera rig for the Oculus Rift known as the “AR-Rift”. With this type of rig, which has cameras on the front to let users “see through” the headset, developers can begin to explore mixing real-life objects with virtual ones in an immersive way.
Several experiments were established using the the AR-Rift which tested users’ ability to distinguish between physical items and virtual models. Conventional rendering, where the real and virtual objects are displayed as-is, produced an error rate of 27%. For the most part, people were able to pick out the difference based on subtle graphical inconsistencies at first. However, the amount of uncertainty increased to 44% as a stylized rendering condition blended non-photorealistic effects together. This made it more difficult to point out the contrasting elements. Inaccuracy jumped even further to 72% during a virtualized simulation where sketch-like outline and cartoonish filters were applied.
See the full story here: http://www.roadtovr.com/experiment-shows-stylized-rendering-can-enhance-presence-in-immersive-augmented-reality/