Combining Dynamic Field of View Modification with Physical Obstacle Avoidance

Motion sickness is a major cause of discomfort for users of virtual reality (VR) systems. Over the past several years, several techniques have been proposed to mitigate motion sickness, such as high-quality “room-scale” tracking systems, dynamic field of view modification, and displaying static or dynamic rest frames. At the same time, an absence of real world spatial cues may cause trouble during movement in virtual reality, and users may collide with physical obstacles. To address both of these problems, we propose a novel technique that combines dynamic field of view modification with rest frames generated from 3D scans of the physical environment. As the users moves, either physically and/or virtually, the displayed field of view can be artificially reduced to reveal a wireframe visualization of the real world geometry in the periphery, rendered in the same reference frame as the user. Although empirical studies have not yet been conducted, informal testing suggests that this approach is a promising method for reducing motion sickness and improving user safety at the same time.