Elsevier

Displays

Volume 49, September 2017, Pages 72-79
Displays

Motion parallax from head movement enhances stereoscopic displays by improving presence and decreasing visual fatigue

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.displa.2017.07.001Get rights and content

Highlights

  • We study the role of motion parallax when combined with stereopsis in a FTVR system.

  • We measure fatigue and perception of presence using standard questionnaires.

  • We find that in FTVR settings, the combination of stereopsis and motion parallax cues yields lower visual fatigue and higher ratings for presence than do stereopsis cues alone.

  • Participants’ head movement helps explain the experimental findings.

  • We conclude that motion parallax enhances users’ experience with stereoscopic displays.

Abstract

Virtual reality has advanced significantly recent years. Public attention and most academic studies of late have centered on head-worn VR. However, there are other VR modalities, and different modalities may be suitable in different situations. In this paper, we investigate Fish Tank Virtual Reality (FTVR) systems, which is close to readiness to be part of our everyday lives. In particular, stereoscopic displays and head tracking systems, some of the most important hardware components of FTVR systems, are now widespread commodities. This means that FTVR may soon become a platform for everyday applications. However, further understanding of the capabilities, limitations, and human factors of FTVR systems using modern commodity hardware is critical to the adoption of FTVR. Since one of the most important aspects of a FTVR system is how well it provides a sense of presence to users, we present a study that explores the role of motion parallax when combined with stereopsis in a FTVR system. We measure fatigue and subjective perception of presence using standard questionnaires. We find that users receiving both cues have lower visual fatigue and higher ratings for presence than those receiving stereo cues only. Measurements of participants’ head movement during each task prove valuable in explaining the experimental findings. We conclude that motion parallax is important for enhancing user experience by lowering visual fatigue and increasing users’ subjective perception of presence.

Section snippets

Related work

In this section, we briefly review previous studies of FTVR, CAVE, and measurement of visual fatigue.

Experimental methods

Our objective was to determine the extent to which motion parallax enhances user experience beyond that obtainable with a stereopsis-only display. We focus on two properties of a FTVR system that affect a wide array of activities, rather than the users’ performance of a specific task. The first property is the level of presence that the system provides for the user, because increased presence will indicate increased naturalness of interaction in tasks requiring 3D awareness such as 3D modeling

Results

This section presents results of the experiment. We begin with results on visual fatigue, which are followed by results on level of presence, view mode comparisons, head movement, and participants’ feedback.

Discussion

In this section, we discuss our observations about users’ behavior, provide some interpretation of the effects, and make some recommendations for future FTVR projects.

Conclusion

This paper describes a thorough study of the importance of motion parallax cues for the user’s sense of presence and fatigue in FTVR interfaces. In the experiment, we focus on determining the extent to which motion parallax enhances stereopsis. We use the Simulation Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) to measure visual fatigue and the Presence Questionnaire (PQ) to measure the level of presence experienced by the user. The activity in this experiment is designed to require an extensive amount of time

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