RealNodes: Interactive and Explorable 360$^{\circ}$ VR System with Visual Guidance User Interfaces

Anonymous

Keywords: Immersive / 360° video, 3D user interaction, Nonfatiguing 3DUIs, Locomotion and navigation, 3DUI metaphors, Computer graphics techniques

TL;DR: We designed RealNodes, which presents an interactive and explorable 360-degree video VR environment, along with four visual guidance UIs for 360 VR navigation which we compared in a study.

Abstract: Emerging research expands the idea of using 360-degree panoramas of the real-world for “360 VR” experiences beyond video and image viewing. However, most of these are strictly guided, with few opportunities for interaction or exploration. There is a desire for experiences with cohesive virtual environments with choice in navigation, versus scripted experiences with limited interaction. Unlike standard VR with the freedom of synthetic graphics, there are challenges in designing user interfaces (UIs) for 360 VR navigation within the limitations of fixed assets. We designed RealNodes, a novel software system that presents an interactive and explorable 360 VR environment. We also developed four visual guidance UIs for 360 VR navigation. The results of a comparative study of these UIs determined that choice of user interface (UI) had a significant effect on task completion times, showing one of the methods, Arrow, was best. Arrow also exhibited positive but non-significant trends in preference, user engagement, and simulator-sickness. RealNodes and the comparative study contribute preliminary results that inspire future investigation of how to design effective visual guidance metaphors for navigation in applications using novel 360 VR environments.