See More in Virtual Reality

Abstract

This report describes VR, its patterns and tools to see more. It starts of by explaining what Virtual Reality means and setting the boundaries for the project. It then continues identifying interaction patterns by covering papers, literature, blogs, interviews and researching actual VR applications on the HTC Vive, Google Cardboard and Playstation VR. After this the direction towards guiding attention is taken as current Head Mounted Displays only allow to see what is in front while virtual worlds allow content all around. Using the work from Stigchel, a theory for guiding attention is set up. Together with other resources, three tools are developed that guide attention to objects outside the field of view in unique ways. An arrow in the peripheral vision, organic lines in the background that converge on a certain point and an animated sphere that moves towards a point of interest. These three tools are tested and evaluated; the arrow is most professional and effective, the animated object is most fitting in VR and very effective, while converging lines are very subtle and not always effective. Recommendations for their implementation are given in the report. Three more tools are developed that do not necessarily guide attention to a specific point, but allow users to be more aware of interesting objects in their environment; a mirror ball that reflects everything behind the user, a radar that helps with orientation and shows points of interest and finally a birds-eye view that allows the user to see the virtual world from up high. These tools are tested and compared with the guiding tools. It is found that participants do not have a preference for any one tool, but do prefer being guided towards an object of interest. The mirror ball is least liked though because the reflection requires more thinking. It could be improved by making it more convex and filtering the image. The radar could be improved by showing distance to objects and showing map elements. The birds-eye view can be improved by showing a miniature world and filtering it so that points of interest are more apparent. The report concludes with sketching a possible scenario in a chemistry lab in which each of the tool is demonstrated.