A Subjective and Behavioral Assessment of Affordances in Virtual Architectural Walkthroughs

Asim Hameed,Andrew Perkis

doi:10.3390/app11177846

Abstract

Immersive technologies, such as VR, offer first-person experiences using depth perception and spatial awareness that elucidate a sense of space impossible with traditional visualization techniques. This paper looks beyond the visual aspects and towards understanding the experiential aspects of two popular uses of VR in 3D architectural visualization: a “passive walkthrough” and an “interactive walkthrough”. We designed a within-subject experiment to measure the user-perceived quality for both experiences. All participants (N = 34) were exposed to both scenarios and afterwards responded to a post-experience questionnaire; meanwhile, their physical activity and simple active behaviors were also recorded. Results indicate that while the fully immersive-interactive experience rendered a heightened sense of presence in users, overt behaviors (movement and gesture) did not change for users. We discuss the potential use of subjective assessments and user behavior analysis to understand user-perceived experiential quality inside virtual environments, which should be useful in building taxonomies and designing affordances that best fit these environments.

Highlights

The aim of this study was to conduct a comparative assessment of two VR experiences and cross-examine their user-perceived experiential quality against how users behaved in them
We analyzed the effects of manipulation and effect affordances inside a virtual architectural interior on the overall sense of presence in users and how they modified their behavior with respect to these affordances
Our study confirms that in Virtual EnvironmentsImmersive virtual environments (IVE) are more than just passive geometries and that users feel cognitively and emotionally more involved in virtual environments with action possibilities

Summary

Introduction

Immersive virtual environments (IVE) are 360-degree spatial experiences that either superimpose or occlude the real-space altogether. The ubiquity of real-time rendering has made it possible to experience virtual architectural environments with correct scale and depth precision. IVEs offer visualization solutions for the design industry, environment models for immersive games, training environments for virtual learning [16], visualization solutions for collaborative design [17] and methods for the gamification of building information modeling (BIM) to test various physical dynamics and performances [18]. All current VR applications facilitate 360° viewing. Some are passive experiences along predefined paths or points with little exploration and interaction

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