Virtual Replicas of Real Places: Experimental Investigations

Area of Science:

• Human-computer interaction
• Virtual reality perception
• Digital heritage

Background:

• Virtual reality (VR) technology is increasingly accessible for applications like cultural heritage, real estate, and architecture.
• Creating compelling virtual recreations of real places is a common objective.
• Limited research exists on user perception and experience within these virtual spaces.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate user perception and experience of virtual reality environments.
• To identify key factors influencing the sense of realism in virtual spaces.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a series of three user studies.
• Investigated user responses to virtual environment fidelity.

Main Results:

• Accurate room scale and the size of large objects are crucial for users to perceive virtual spaces as real.
• Non-physical behaviors, such as objects floating, are easily detected and negatively impact realism, even with minor discrepancies.

Conclusions:

• Virtual environment realism is highly dependent on accurate spatial representation and object scale.
• Even small perceptual errors, particularly non-physical anomalies, can significantly diminish the user's sense of presence and reality in VR.