MetaSpace II (MS2) is a social Virtual Reality (VR) system where multiple users can not only see and hear but also interact with each other, grasp and manipulate objects, walk around in space, and get tactile feedback. MS2 allows walking in physical space by tracking each user’s skeleton in realtime and allows users to feel by employing passive haptics i.e., when users touch or manipulate an object in the virtual world, they simultaneously also touch or manipulate a corresponding object in the physical world. To enable these elements in VR, MS2 creates a correspondence in spatial layout and object placement by building the virtual world on top of a 3D scan of the real world. Through the association between the real and virtual world, users are able to walk freely while wearing a head-mounted device, avoid obstacles like walls and furniture, and interact with people and objects. Most current virtual reality (VR) environments are designed for a single user experience where interactions with virtual objects are mediated by hand-held input devices or hand gestures. Additionally, users are only shown a representation of their hands in VR floating in front of the camera as seen from a first person perspective. We believe, representing each user as a fullbody avatar that is controlled by natural movements of the person in the real world (see Figure 1d), can greatly enhance believability and a user’s sense immersion in VR.
Two primary approaches to the problem of mapping small physical spaces to large virtual spaces for navigation and maneuvering have been explored in research: Locomotion: walking in place (natural @cite_0 , powered shoes or other devices @cite_45 @cite_50 @cite_40 ), walking in space (natural @cite_54 , mechanical setups @cite_3 , redirection techniques @cite_29 @cite_19 ), gestural walking @cite_13 Abstractions or metaphors @cite_3 : miniaturized worlds, flying, driving, bicycling, teleporting, and virtual arm growing @cite_24 .
@cite_54 @cite_29 @cite_3 @cite_0 @cite_19 @cite_40 @cite_45 @cite_24 @cite_50 @cite_13
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Our HiBall Tracking System generates over 2000 head-pose estimates per second with less than one millisecond of latency, and less than 0.5 millimeters and 0.02 degrees of position and orientation noise, everywhere in a 4.5 by 8.5 meter room. The system is remarkably responsive and robust, enabling VR applications and experiments that previously would have been difficult or even impossible. Previously we published descriptions of only the Kalman filter-based software approach that we call Single-Constraint-at-a-Time tracking. In this paper we describe the complete tracking system, including the novel optical, mechanical, electrical, and algorithmic aspects that enable the unparalleled performance. Virtual Environments presented through head-mounted displays (HMDs) are often explored on foot. Exploration on foot is useful since the afferent and efferent cues of physical locomotion aid spatial awareness. However, the size of the virtual environment that can be explored on foot is limited to the dimensions of the tracking space of the HMD unless other strategies are used. This paper presents a system for exploring a large virtual environment on foot when the size of the physical surroundings is small by leveraging people's natural ability to spatially update. This paper presents three methods of "resetting" users when they reach the physical limits of the HMD tracking system. Resetting involves manipulating the users' location in physical space to move them out of the path of the physical obstruction while maintaining their spatial awareness of the virtual space. A Complete Toolbox of Theories and Techniques The second edition of a bestseller, Handbook of Virtual Environments: Design, Implementation, and Applications presents systematic and extensive coverage of the primary areas of research and development within VE technology. It brings together a comprehensive set of contributed articles that address the principles required to define system requirements and design, build, evaluate, implement, and manage the effective use of VE applications. The contributors provide critical insights and principles associated with their given areas of expertise to provide extensive scope and detail on VE technology and its applications. Whats New in the Second Edition: Updated glossary of terms to promote common language throughout the community New chapters on olfactory perception, avatar control, motion sickness, and display design, as well as a whole host of new application areas Updated information to reflect the tremendous progress made over the last decade in applying VE technology to a growing number of domains This second edition includes nine new, as well as forty-one updated chapters that reflect the progress made in basic and applied research related to the creation, application, and evaluation of virtual environments. Contributions from leading researchers and practitioners from multidisciplinary domains provide a wealth of theoretical and practical information, resulting in a complete toolbox of theories and techniques that you can rely on to develop more captivating and effective virtual worlds. The handbook supplies a valuable resource for advancing VE applications as you take them from the laboratory to the real-world lives of people everywhere. Traveling through immersive virtual environments (IVEs) by means of real walking is an important activity to increase naturalness of VR-based interaction. However, the size of the virtual world often exceeds the size of the tracked space so that a straightforward implementation of omni-directional and unlimited walking is not possible. Redirected walking is one concept to solve this problem of walking in IVEs by inconspicuously guiding the user on a physical path that may differ from the path the user visually perceives. When the user approaches a virtual object she can be redirected to a real proxy object that is registered to the virtual counterpart and provides passive haptic feedback. In such passive haptic environments, any number of virtual objects can be mapped to proxy objects having similar haptic properties, e.g., size, shape and texture. The user can sense a virtual object by touching its real world counterpart. Redirecting a user to a registered proxy object makes it necessary to predict the user's intended position in the IVE. Based on this target position we determine a path through the physical space such that the user is guided to the registered proxy object. We present a taxonomy of possible redirection techniques that enable user guidance such that inconsistencies between visual and proprioceptive stimuli are imperceptible. We describe how a user's target in the virtual world can be predicted reliably and how a corresponding real-world path to the registered proxy object can be derived. The CirculaFloor locomotion interface's movable tiles employ a holonomic mechanism to achieve omnidirectional motion. Users can thus maintain their position while walking in a virtual environment. The CirculaFloor method exploits both the treadmill and footpad, creating an infinite omnidirectional surface using a set of movable tiles. The tiles provide a sufficient area for walking, and thus precision tracing of the foot position is not required. This method has the potential to create an uneven surface by mounting an up-and-down mechanism on each tile. This article is available with a short video documentary on CD-ROM. The Go-Go immersive interaction technique uses the metaphor of interactively growing the user’s arm and non-linear mapping for reaching and manipulating distant objects. Unlike others, our technique allows for seamless direct manipulation of both nearby objects and those at a distance. Walking-In-Place (WIP) techniques have potential in terms of solving the problem arising when an immersive virtual environment offers a larger freedom of movement than the physical environment. Such techniques are particularly useful when the spatial constraints are very prominent, as they are likely to be in relation to immersive gaming systems located in the homes of consumers. However, most existing WIP techniques rely on movement of the legs which may cause users, wearing a head mounted display, to unintentionally move. This paper details a within-subjects study performed with the intention of investigating how two alternative types of gestural input relying on arm and hip movements compare to the traditional WIP gesture and keyboard input. Visual feedback was delivered through a head-mounted display and auditory feedback was provided by means of a 16-channel surround sound system. The gestures were evaluated in terms of perceived naturalness, presence and real world positional drift. The results suggest that both WIP and arm swinging are perceived as significantly more natural than hip movement and the keyboard configuration. However, arm swinging better matched real walking in terms of energy expenditure and led to significantly less positional drift.