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Authoring tools for virtual reality experiences: a systematic review

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Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is used in different application fields like health, tourism, or training. Most VR applications for these fields have been built from the ground up without any authoring tool to help the process. This systematic review surveys the existing literature on authoring tools for immersive content and critically analyzes its features and how they are evaluated. It proposes a research agenda with key contribution opportunities for the field. An analysis of the 29 studies that met the eligibility criteria revealed that four records did not present any evaluation regarding the authoring tools’ evaluation, and only five records used specialized users to evaluate their authoring tools; all the others used non-specialized users. The most evaluated metrics were usability, effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The data collected to evaluate the metrics consisted mainly of Likert scales and reported mean opinion score (MOS). However, few records used well-established questionnaires to evaluate those metrics like System Usability Scale, Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire, After-Scenario Questionnaire and Igroup Presence Questionnaire. Additionally, five of the analyzed records included stimuli other than audiovisual. More research is recommended about the usage of ontologies in authoring tools to comprehend the full potential of its usage since none of them had ontologies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was done partially funded by the project SFRH/BD/147913/2019 entitled Authoring Framework for Interactive and Immersive Virtual Reality Training financed by the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. This work was also partially funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 - The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 2014-2020, under grant agreement No. 833573.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science, Porto, Portugal

    Hugo Coelho, Pedro Monteiro, Guilherme Gonçalves, Miguel Melo & Maximino Bessa

  2. University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal

    Maximino Bessa

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Correspondence to Hugo Coelho.

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Coelho, H., Monteiro, P., Gonçalves, G. et al. Authoring tools for virtual reality experiences: a systematic review. Multimed Tools Appl 81, 28037–28060 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-022-12829-9

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