Assessing usability and performance in 3D modeling and design review: a comparison of immersive virtual reality, desktop, and hybrid environments

Abstract Immersive virtual reality (IVR) systems play an increasingly significant role in design fields due to their physical presence and enhanced interaction mechanisms. Despite growing adoption, the effectiveness of three-dimensional (3D) modeling and design review in IVR remains relatively less examined. This study evaluated usability, cognitive load, time perception, task completion time, perceived enjoyment, and motivation in 3D modeling tasks across two environments: IVR and desktop (DE). It also examined design review processes across three environments: IVR, DE, and a hybrid environment (HE). Two experiments were conducted with architecture students, involving 34 participants in the first and 48 in the second, using SketchUp Pro 2024 and VR Sketch v.16. Data were collected through demographic surveys, in-task time estimation, task completion times, post-task questionnaires, and objective model precision analyses. In Experiment 1, IVR required greater physical effort, led to longer completion times, and systematically distorted time perception compared to DE. Task complexity further increased cognitive load, particularly in IVR. Model precision analyses revealed that DE outperformed IVR in simpler tasks (Tasks 1–2), while performance attained comparable levels in the most complex task (Task 3) where high cognitive load likely saturated performance. Time perception patterns indicated a lack of time compression. In Experiment 2, usability, motivation, and enjoyment remained consistent across DE, IVR, and HE environments. However, HE demonstrated clear efficiency advantages, with significantly shorter task completion times than DE. In addition, perceived durations were shorter than in DE and marginally shorter than in IVR. These findings suggest that while IVR offers immersive engagement, it introduces additional physical demand, longer task completion times, and consistent time overestimation during 3D modeling, which can reduce precision in simpler tasks. By contrast, hybrid environments can enhance efficiency in design review without imposing extra workload, aligning with prior studies on the benefits of hybrid media.