Calibration of brightness of virtual reality light sources based on user perception in the real environment

Abstract

Accurately conveying brightness information and improving the reducibility of the perceived visual scene are important aspects of the efforts to promote the application of virtual reality (VR) in light environment research. In this study, brightness perception threshold (BPT) experiments with controlled, repeatable conditions were conducted in equivalent real and VR environments using the minimum change method. The experiments were conducted with the luminance, shape, size, and position of the light-emitting surfaces as variables, using 20 distinct surface forms. After 28 participants finished the assessment, the experimental data were analyzed using SPSS. The analysis shows that the initial luminance, shape, and size all have significant influence on the BPT in both real and VR environments, and the influence rules are consistent. The effect of the positions of the light-emitting surfaces on the BPT varies depending on the shape. Based on the BPT data, the Number of Perceptions (NOP) was proposed as an intermediate variable, and 15 brightness calibration curves for VR and real environment light sources were established. This study uses the consistency of visual brightness to establish the correspondence between the VR presentations’ brightness and the physical illumination of real scenes, which has implications for improving the accuracy of VR applications to light environment research and design.