Virtual Visual Environment Research Articles

A Unified Virtual Model for Real-Time Visualization and Diagnosis in Architectural Heritage Conservation

The aim of this paper is to propose a workflow for the real-time visualization of virtual environments that supports diagnostic tasks in heritage buildings. The approach integrates data from terrestrial laser scanning (3D point clouds and meshes), along with panoramic and thermal images, into a unified virtual model. Additionally, the methodology incorporates several post-processing stages designed to enhance the user experience in visualizing both the building and its associated damage. The methodology was tested on the Medieval Templar Church of Vera Cruz in Segovia, utilizing a combination of visible and infrared data, along with manually prepared damage maps. The project results demonstrate that the use of a hybrid digital model—combining 3D point clouds, polygonal meshes, and panoramic images—is highly effective for real-time rendering, providing detailed visualization while maintaining adaptability for mobile devices with limited computational power.

Sex differences in vocal behavior in virtual rooms compared to real rooms.

This study investigates speech production under various room acoustic conditions in virtual environments, by comparing vocal behavior and the subjective experience of speaking in four real rooms and their audio-visual virtual replicas. Sex differences were explored. Males and females (N = 13) adjusted their voice levels similarly to room acoustic changes in the real rooms, but only males did so in the virtual rooms. Females, however, rated the visual virtual environment as more realistic compared to males. This suggests a discrepancy between sexes regarding the experience of realism in a virtual environment and changes in objective behavioral measures such as voice level.

Evaluation of Point-to-Point Reaching Performance in Mixed Reality and Virtual Reality

Abstract Recent immersive mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR) displays enable users to use their hands to interact with both veridical and virtual environments simultaneously. Therefore, it becomes important to understand the performance of human hand-reaching movement in MR. Studies have shown that different virtual environment visualization modalities can affect point-to-point reaching performance using a stylus, but it is not yet known if these effects translate to direct human-hand interactions in mixed reality. This paper focuses on evaluating human point-to-point motor performance in MR and VR for both finger-pointing and cup-placement tasks. Six performance measures relevant to haptic interface design were measured for both tasks under several different visualization conditions (“MR with indicator”, “MR without indicator”, and “VR”) to determine what factors contribute to hand-reaching performance. A key finding was evidence of a trade-off between reaching motion confidence” measures (indicated by throughput, number of corrective movements, and peak velocity) and “accuracy” measures (indicated by end-point error and initial movement error). Specifically, we observed that participants tended to be more confident in the “MR without Indicator” condition for finger-pointing tasks. These results contribute critical knowledge to inform the design of VR/MR interfaces based on the application's user performance requirements.

The effect of virtual reality spiritual emotional freedom technique (Vr-seft) therapy on anxiety and cortisol in drug patients in Makassar class I state detention center

Drug abuse is a global problem that is increasing every year. Various previous studies have described the magnitude of psychological disorders and the impact of drug use as quite serious. Nonpharmacological measures such as spiritual direction are stated to reduce anxiety and depression in drug treatment patients significantly. Virtual Reality Spiritual Emotional Freedom Technique (VR-SEFT) is designed based on SEFT theory applied to interactive visualization of virtual environments. This study aims to determine the effect of VR-SEFT therapy on anxiety and cortisol hormone levels in drug patients at Makassar Class I State Prison. This research employs a quasi-experimental methodology utilizing a control group design with both pre-test and post-test assessments. The analysis was carried out on 66 respondents who were divided into 2 groups, 33 intervention group respondents and 33 control groups in Makassar Class I State Detention Center selected using consecutive sampling. The intervention group given VR-SEFT was carried out for eight weeks with 24 meetings. Each intervention was 15-20 minutes, while the control group was assigned standard rehabilitation care. HRS-A measured fatigue in both groups, and the ELISA method measured cortisol hormone levels. The median values of anxiety and cortisol in both groups before SEFT therapy showed a tending score, but after treatment, it was known that the intervention group given VR-SEFT therapy experienced a significant decrease in anxiety scores (mean rank = 32.73) and cortisol (mean rank = 32.73) (p < 0.05) compared to anxiety scores (mean rank = 48.11) and cortisol (mean rank = 34.27) in the control group. There is an effect of VR-SEFT on anxiety and cortisol hormone levels in drug patients at Makassar Class I State Detention Center.

Visual motion detection thresholds can be reliably measured during walking and standing.

In upright standing and walking, the motion of the body relative to the environment is estimated from a combination of visual, vestibular, and somatosensory cues. Associations between vestibular or somatosensory impairments and balance problems are well established, but less is known whether visual motion detection thresholds affect upright balance control. Typically, visual motion threshold values are measured while sitting, with the head fixated to eliminate self-motion. In this study we investigated whether visual motion detection thresholds: (1) can be reliably measured during standing and walking in the presence of natural self-motion; and (2) differ during standing and walking. Twenty-nine subjects stood on and walked on a self-paced, instrumented treadmill inside a virtual visual environment projected on a large dome. Participants performed a two-alternative forced choice experiment in which they discriminated between a counterclockwise ("left") and clockwise ("right") rotation of a visual scene. A 6-down 1-up adaptive staircase algorithm was implemented to change the amplitude of the rotation. A psychometric fit to the participants' binary responses provided an estimate for the detection threshold. We found strong correlations between the repeated measurements in both the walking (R = 0.84, p < 0.001) and the standing condition (R = 0.73, p < 0.001) as well as good agreement between the repeated measures with Bland-Altman plots. Average thresholds during walking (mean = 1.04°, SD = 0.43°) were significantly higher than during standing (mean = 0.73°, SD = 0.47°). Visual motion detection thresholds can be reliably measured during both walking and standing, and thresholds are higher during walking.

Vestibular damage affects the precision and accuracy of navigation in a virtual visual environment.

Vestibular information is available to the brain during navigation, as are the other self-generated (idiothetic) and external (allothetic) sensorimotor cues that contribute to central estimates of position and motion. Rodent studies provide strong evidence that vestibular information contributes to navigation but human studies have been less conclusive. Furthermore, sex-based differences have been described in human navigation studies performed with the head stationary, a situation where dynamic vestibular (and other idiothetic) information is absent, but sex differences in the utilization of vestibular information have not been described. Here, we studied men and women with severe bilateral vestibular damage as they navigated through a visually barren virtual reality environment and compared their performance to normal men and women. Two navigation protocols were employed, which either activated dynamic idiothetic cues ('dynamic task', navigate by turning, walking in place) or eliminated them ('static task', navigate with key presses, head stationary). For both protocols, we employed a standard 'triangle completion task' in which subjects moved to two visual targets in series and then were required to return to their perceived starting position without localizing visual information. The angular and linear 'accuracy' (derived from response error) and 'precision' (derived from response variability) were calculated. Comparing performance 'within tasks', navigation on the dynamic paradigm was worse in male vestibular-deficient patients than in normal men but vestibular-deficient and normal women were equivalent; on the static paradigm, vestibular-deficient men (but not women) performed better than normal subjects. Comparing performance 'between tasks', normal men performed better on the dynamic than the static paradigm while vestibular-deficient men and both normal and vestibular-deficient women were equivalent on both tasks. Statistical analysis demonstrated that for the angular precision metric, sex had a significant effect on the interaction between vestibular status and the test paradigm. These results provide evidence that humans use vestibular information when they navigate in a virtual visual environment and that men and women may utilize vestibular (and visual) information differently. On our navigation paradigm, men used vestibular information to improve navigation performance, and in the presence of severe vestibular damage, they utilized visual information more effectively. In contrast, we did not find evidence that women used vestibular information while navigating on our virtual task, nor did we find evidence that they improved their utilization of visual information in the presence of severe vestibular damage.

Virtual Collaboration in the Context of Teaching and Learning With Interdisciplinary Perspective

Online virtual environments where students can learn and interact somewhat realistically have great potential for engineering studies, such as course resources, tools, and software that support learning and educational practice. Here, we present a collaborative virtual environment for interactive learning and immersive visualization with an interdisciplinary perspective. It allows users to visualize and sample complex scenarios' structures and dynamics and interact with other users in the same virtual environment. A series of controlled studies have been made in which participants were tasked with various emergency decision goals. Moreover, it can also support the following integrated functions: 3-D spatial analysis, 3-D visualization for spatial process, and 3-D spatial decision-making. The performance evaluation results confirmed the proposed virtual environment's higher usability and user satisfaction. This approach will be able to express opportunities for extending interdisciplinary knowledge in engineering education and support the students in their creativity and collaboration skills.

The use of a multi-sensor core scanner workflow as the backbone of a digital core repository

Abstract A core repository is a physical record of a country's or commercial organization's subsurface wealth. Some of the largest core repositories hold thousands of kilometres of core material and it is a challenge to turn this physical archive into an accessible digital resource for all. Non-destructive multi-sensor core logger, hyperspectral and X-ray imaging techniques offer a unique chance to rescue valuable data trapped within core samples, improving the way that a core repository delivers data to academic or industrial end users. Here we present a case study of an archived petroleum core acquired in 1985 at the Osprey Field, UK Continental Shelf. Data from the UK National Data Repository are augmented by a multi-sensor core logger, hyperspectral and X-ray dataset that is uploaded into a cloud-based digital repository. The data were analysed using a multi-variant analysis to reclassify the original lithological interpretations, uncovering a greater proportion of clay and cemented horizons than was previously interpreted. A workflow is established to optimize the use of legacy cores and exploit the abundance of data trapped within the core repository using continuous multi-sensor core scanning and imaging data, which are stored within the virtual environment for visualization and access to all.

Odours in a visual virtual environment: effects of congruency

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to explore the effects of odours, presented together with a virtual reality (V.R.) environment, on memory and numerous aspects of perception in the context of congruency vs incongruency. We examined both effects of intended manipulation of congruency (determined by a group of olfactory experts) and the manipulation check (individual perception of congruency) between V.R. environment and olfactory conditions. 100 participants watched 5 different pleasant vs unpleasant three-dimensional 360° videos, and were randomly attributed to one of 5 groups, each exposed to a specific pleasant or unpleasant odour condition. Following the presentation of each of the 5 V.R. environments, the participants responded to 9 questions assessing various aspects of each V.R. presentation. During the second test, the participants provided self-declared memory ratings and descriptions of the content of the V.R. scenes without experiencing odours or V.R. environments. Linear Mixed Model analyses revealed that intended manipulation of congruency increased some perceived positive aspects of virtual videos. However, odours that are incongruent with visual contents also enhanced positive assessment of the V.R. environments what was further noticed in case of the manipulation check. Eventually, high level of self-declared memory of virtual videos’ details positively influenced V.R. environments’ perception.

Computer Simulation and Visualization of Wheel Tracks on Solid Surfaces in Virtual Environment

The paper describes methods and approaches for implementation of traces from virtual prototypes of wheeled technical vehicles on solid objects in three-dimensional virtual scenes. Use of particle systems hierarchically linked to wheel models is the basis of solutions developed. Original type of particle system is proposed, in which generation of elements is regulated by special control signal. Creation, processing, storage and destruction of particles is performed by means of the CUDA architecture with use of computing cores of modern graphics processor and video memory resources. Creating geometric model of each particle and its rendering is carried out on programmable graphics pipeline with own vertex, geometry and fragment shaders. Visualization of virtual environment with simulation of wheel tracks is performed in real time. Software modules were created based on developed methods and approaches. Approbation of them was carried out in virtual environment system VirSim and showed adequacy and effectiveness of proposed solutions for simulation of wheel tracks in virtual environment systems and training complexes.

Toward a Holistic Virtual Environment for Graph Visualization and Analysis.

Interactive data visualization plays a crucial role in the interpretability of large datasets. Virtual reality offers unique advantages in exploring data, beyond traditional 2-D views. This article presents a set of interaction artifacts designed for analyzing and interpreting complex datasets through immersive 3-D graph visualization and interaction. Our system makes complex datasets easier to work with by offering a wide range of visual customization tools and intuitive methods for selection, manipulation, and filtering. It also provides a cross-platform, collaborative environment that can be accessed by remote users through traditional computers, drawing tablets, and touchscreen devices.

Spontaneous head movements support accurate horizontal auditory localization in a virtual visual environment.

This study investigates the relationship between auditory localization accuracy in the horizontal plane and the spontaneous translation and rotation of the head in response to an acoustic stimulus from an invisible sound source. Although a number of studies have suggested that localization ability improves with head movements, most of them measured the perceived source elevation and front-back disambiguation. We investigated the contribution of head movements to auditory localization in the anterior horizontal field in normal hearing subjects. A virtual reality scenario was used to conceal visual cues during the test through a head mounted display. In this condition, we found that an active search of the sound origin using head movements is not strictly necessary, yet sufficient for achieving greater sound source localization accuracy. This result may have important implications in the clinical assessment and training of adults and children affected by hearing and motor impairments.

Smells Influence Perceived Pleasantness but Not Memorization of a Visual Virtual Environment.

The present study aimed to investigate whether the perception of still scenes in a virtual environment in congruent versus incongruent condition can be influenced by odors. Ninety healthy participants were divided into three groups, including two experimental virtual reality (VR) environments: a rose garden, an orange basket, and a control condition. In each VR condition, participants were exposed to a rose odor, an orange odor, or no odor, resulting in congruent, incongruent, and control conditions. Participants were asked to describe (a) the content of the VR scene and rate its overall pleasantness and (b) the smell and to rate its intensity and pleasantness. For each condition, participants were tested twice. During the second test, participants provided ratings and descriptions of the content of the VR scenes without being exposed to odors or VR environments. Virtual scenarios tended to be remembered as more pleasant when presented with congruent odors. Furthermore, participants used more descriptors in congruent scenarios than in incongruent scenarios. Eventually, rose odor appeared to be remembered as more pleasant when presented within congruent scenarios. These findings show that olfactory stimuli in congruent versus incongruent conditions can possibly modulate the perception of the pleasantness of visual scenes but not the memorization.

Visualization of virtual environment through labVIEW platform

Abstract Virtual instrumentation is the use of customizable software and modular measurement hardware to create user-defined measurement systems, called virtual instruments. The primary difference between hardware instrumentation and virtual instrumentation is that LabVIEW software is used to replace a large amount of hardware. The software enables complex and expensive hardware to be replaced by already purchased computer hardware. Virtual Instrumentation is established using LabVIEW. Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench (LabVIEW) is a system-design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. The graphical language is named “G”; not to be confused with G-code. Originally released for the Apple Macintosh in 1986, LabVIEW is commonly used for data acquisition, instrument control, and industrial automation on a variety of Operating Systems (OSs), including Microsoft Windows, various versions of Unix, Linux, and MacOS. Simple timer Circuit, Traffic Light Control System, Automotive Safety assurance, Speed, Direction control of DC motor and Library Database File Management are realized by implementing VI programs. Select switch, Looping concepts, Case and Flat Sequence structures, String Manipulation, Clusters, File IO systems and Arduino interfacing through DAQ are used to implement all Simulation Models. Software Developed timer circuit and Automotive Safety assurance overcome the accuracy problem of conventional circuits. Designed Library Management system enhances ease of tracking. Conventional control of DC motor relies on hardware accessories such as Field and Armature rheostats and it requires manual implementation, whereas Virtual instrumentation makes software based control and it improves the system reliability. Fetching of Real time data and manipulation addresses the flexibility issue of hardware based Traffic Light Control system.

Towards robot vision using deep neural networks in evolutionary robotics

In evolutionary robotics, robot controllers are often evolved in simulation, as using the physical robot for fitness evaluation can take a prohibitively long time. Simulators provide a quick way to evaluate controller fitness. A simulator is tasked with providing appropriate sensor information to the controller. If the robot has an on-board camera, an entire virtual visual environment is needed to simulate the camera’s signal. In the past, these visual environments have been constructed by hand, requiring the use of hand-crafted models, textures and lighting, which is a tedious and time-consuming process. This paper proposes a deep neural network-based architecture for simulating visual environments. The neural networks are trained exclusively from images captured from the robot, creating a 3-dimensional visual environment without using hand-crafted models, textures or lighting. It does not rely on any external domain specific datasets, as all training data is captured in the physical environment. Robot controllers were evolved in simulation to discern between objects with different colours and shapes, and they successfully completed the same task in the real world.

Immersion and Coherence: Research Agenda and Early Results.

Presence has been studied in the context of virtual environments for nearly thirty years, but the field has yet to reach consensus on even basic issues of definition and measurement, and there are many open research questions. We gather many of these open research questions and systematically group them according to what we believe are five key constructs that inform user experience in virtual environments: immersion, coherence, Place Illusion, Plausibility Illusion, and presence. We also report on the design and results of a study that investigated the effects of immersion and coherence on user experience in a stressful virtual visual cliff environment. In this article, each participant experienced a given VE in one of four conditions chosen from a 2x2 design: high or low levels of immersion and high or low levels of coherence. We collected both questionnaire-based and physiological metrics. Several existing presence questionnaires could not reliably distinguish the effects of immersion from those of coherence. They did, however, indicate that high levels of both together result in higher presence, compared any of the other three conditions. This suggests that "breaks in PI" and "breaks in Psi" belong to a broader category of "breaks in experience," any of which result in a degraded user experience. Participants' heart rates responded markedly differently in the two coherence conditions; no such difference was observed across the immersion conditions. This indicates that a VE that exhibits unusual or confusing behavior can cause stress in a user that affects physiological responses, and that one must take care to eliminate such confusing behaviors if one is using physiological measurement as a proxy for subjective experience in a VE.

Procedures for Condition Mapping Using 360° Images

The identification of deterioration mechanisms and their monitoring over time is an essential phase for conservation. This work aimed at developing a novel approach for deterioration mapping and monitoring based on 360° images, which allows for simple and rapid data collection. The opportunity to capture the whole scene around a 360° camera reduces the number of images needed in a condition mapping project, resulting in a powerful solution to document small and narrow spaces. The paper will describe the implemented workflow for deterioration mapping based on 360° images, which highlights pathologies on surfaces and quantitatively measures their extension. Such a result will be available as standard outputs as well as an innovative virtual environment for immersive visualization. The case of multi-temporal data acquisition will be considered and discussed as well. Multiple 360° images acquired at different epochs from slightly different points are co-registered to obtain pixel-to-pixel correspondence, providing a solution to quantify and track deterioration effects.

Vertical Posture Maintenance with Multiple Repetitions under the Conditions of Destabilizing Virtual Visual Environment

We studied whether adaptation can occur in healthy subjects under conditions of standing in a three-dimensional virtual visual environment (VVE), which was destabilized, e.g., by introducing the in-phase coupling only between the subject’s body oscillations and the position of visible virtual scene. For approximately 1.5 h, the subjects performed 35 tests lasting 40 s each, standing quietly on a stabilograph, which recorded the oscillations of their body. The interval for rest between the tests was 20–25 s; after every 5 tests, the subjects rested sitting for 4–5 min. The posture maintenance analysis was based on the assessment of the amplitude–frequency characteristics of two elementary variables: the trajectories of the projection of the center of gravity on the support surface (variable CoG) and the difference between the trajectories of the CoP and CoG (variable CoP–CoG). The variables were calculated basing on the trajectories of the center of pressure (CoP) in the anteroposterior and lateral directions. We found that the standing under the conditions of the same type of destabilization of visible visual environment at the end of the tests was significantly improved. The amplitude and frequency characteristics of variables CoG and CoP-CoG was close to those observed in an immobile visual environment. The vertical posture maintenance was improved through changes in both the amplitude and frequency characteristics of variables CoG and CoP–CoG. Thus, we found that multiple repetitions of tests under conditions of virtual visual environment with unstable visible visual environment, resulting in the destabilization of the vertical posture, allowed subjects to effectively adapt and improve the equilibrium characteristics of the body.

Research on Virtual Visualization Technology of Flight Simulation

This paper describes various common modeling techniques and optimization methods in visual flight simulation. A large area of terrain, airplane and instrument are modeled visually using modeling tools Creator. The models are optimized using the LOD (Levels of Detail), DOF (Degree of Freedom), Fst and bounding volume techniques. In the design of the visual virtual environment, the environmental sounds are joined in order to enhance the realism of virtual environment. Through visual programming LynX and code writing, the real-time dynamic interactive driving of the instrument in the cockpit has been realized, and the prototype of the flight simulation visualization system has been realized.

Visuomotor Adaptation in Healthy Humans in Standing Position under the Conditions of Destabilization of Virtual Visual Environment

Visuomotor Adaptation in Healthy Humans in Standing Position under the Conditions of Destabilization of Virtual Visual Environment