Towards Quantifying Depth and Size Perception in Virtual Environments

With the rapid advance of real-time computer graphics, head-mounted displays (HMDs) have become popular tools for 3D visualization. One of the most promising and challenging future uses of HMDs, however, is in applications where virtual environments enhance rather than replace real environments. In such applications, a virtual image is superimposed on a real image. The unique problem raised by this superimposition is the difficulty that the human visual system may have in integrating information from these two environments. As a starting point to studying the problem of information integration in see-through environments, we investigate the quantification of depth and size perception of virtual objects relative to real objects in combined real and virtual environments. This starting point leads directly to the important issue of system calibration, which must be completed before perceived depth and sizes are measured. Finally, preliminary experimental results on the perceived depth of spatially nonoverlapping real and virtual objects are presented.