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High-Fidelity Avatar Eye-Representation | IEEE Conference Publication | IEEE Xplore

High-Fidelity Avatar Eye-Representation


Abstract:

In collaborative virtual environments, the visual representation of avatars has been shown to be an important determinant of participant behaviour and response. We explor...Show More

Abstract:

In collaborative virtual environments, the visual representation of avatars has been shown to be an important determinant of participant behaviour and response. We explored the influence of varying conditions of eye-representation in our high-fidelity avatar by measuring how accurately people can identify the avatar's point-of- regard (direction of gaze), together with subjective authenticity assessments of the avatar's behaviour and visual representation. The first of two variables investigated was socket-deformation, which is to say that our avatar's eyelids, eyebrows and surrounding areas morphed realistically depending on eye-rotation. The second was vergence of our avatar's eyes to the exact point-of-regard. Our results suggest that the two variables significantly influence the accuracy of point-of-regard identification. This accuracy is highly dependent on the combination of viewing-angle and the point-of-regard itself. We found that socket-deformation in particular has a highly positive impact on the perceived authenticity of our avatar's overall appearance, and when judging just the eyes. However, despite favourable subjective ratings, overall performance during the point-of-regard identification task was actually worse with the highest quality avatar. This provides more evidence that as we move forward to using higher fidelity avatars, there will be a tradeoff between supporting realism of representation and supporting the actual communicative task.
Date of Conference: 08-12 March 2008
Date Added to IEEE Xplore: 04 April 2008
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Conference Location: Reno, NV, USA

References

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