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ispartof: pages:167-175 ispartof: Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces pages:167-175 ispartof: IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces location:Christchurch, New Zealand date:12 Mar - 16 Mar 2022 status: accepted

Virtual Reality (VR) technology enables users to immerse themselves in artificial worlds. However, it isolates users from the outside world and impedes them from collaborating with other users who might be outside of the VR experience and vice-versa. We implemented two systems where we explore how such an external user in the real world can interact across realities with a user immersed in virtual reality, either locally or remotely, in order to to share pinpoint locations. In the first we investigate three cross-reality techniques for the external user to draw the attention of their VR counterpart on specific objects present in the virtual environment (Voice, Highlight, and Arrow). Participants performed better overall and preferred the Arrow technique, followed by the Highlight technique. In the second system we expand on these two techniques to explore an even starker cross-reality interaction between users in VR and users interacting via a tablet computer to direct each other to pinpoint objects in the scene. We adapted the previous two techniques and implemented two others (Vision cone, Pointing) that support bi-directional communication between users. When it comes to bi-directional pinpointing, VR users still showed preference for the Arrow technique (now described as Pointing in Giant mode), while mobile users were split between the Vision cone and the Highlight techniques.

TV experiences are often social, be it at-a-distance (through text) or in-person (through speech). Mixed Reality (MR) headsets offer new opportunities to enhance social communication during TV viewing by placing social artifacts (e.g. text) anywhere the viewer wishes, rather than being constrained to a smartphone or TV display. In this paper, we use VR as a test-bed to evaluate different text locations for MR TV specifically. We introduce the concepts of wall messages, below-screen messages, and egocentric messages in addition to state-of-the-art on-screen messages (i.e., subtitles) and controller messages (i.e., reading text messages on the mobile device) to convey messages to users during TV viewing experiences. Our results suggest that a) future MR systems that aim to improve viewers’ experience need to consider the integration of a communication channel that does not interfere with viewers’ primary task, that is watching TV, and b) independent of the location of text messages, users prefer to be in full control of them, especially when reading and responding to them. Our findings pave the way for further investigations towards social at-a-distance communication in Mixed Reality.

Manipulating the appearance of a Virtual Environment to enable natural walking has so far focused on modifications that are intended to be unnoticed by users. In our research, we took a radically different approach by embracing the overt nature of the change. To explore this method, we designed the Space Bender, a natural walking technique for room-scale VR. It builds on the idea of overtly manipulating the Virtual Environment by "bending" the geometry whenever the user comes in proximity of a physical boundary. Our aim was to evaluate the feasibility of this approach in terms of performance and subjective feedback. We compared the Space Bender to two other similarly situated techniques: Stop and Reset and Teleportation, in a task requiring participants to traverse a 100 m path. Results show that the Space Bender was significantly faster than Stop and Reset, and preferred to the Teleportation technique, highlighting the potential of overt manipulation to facilitate natural walking.

This work studies the role of a human instructor within an immersive VR lesson. Our system allows the instructor to perform “contact teaching” by demonstrating concepts through interaction with the environment, and the student to experiment with interaction prompts. We conducted a between-subjects user study with two groups of students: one experienced the VR lesson while immersed together with an instructor; the other experienced the same contents demonstrated through animation sequences simulating the actions that the instructor would take. Results show that the Two-User version received significantly higher scores than the Single-User version in terms of overall preference, clarity, and helpfulness of the explanations. When immersed together with an instructor, users were more inclined to engage and progress further with the interaction prompts, than when the instructor was absent. Based on the analysis of videos and interviews, we identified design recommendations for future immersive VR educational experiences. Postprint