Thesis Project Form

If an observer is in motion, or vice versa if 3D objects are moving around him, then characteristic patterns of optic flow (OF, i.e. the apparent motion of the image brightness pattern over the image plane) arise. In immersive VR, the influence of the OF impinging the retinas and elaborated by the visual cortex is confirmed by HMD producers, who suggest avoiding an intensive display of visual flow while developing VR applications.

The thesis has the main goal of understanding the influence of visual motion (i.e. OF) in the motion sickness (MS) perceived by the users, also with respect to the actions performed by the user himself, the way he/she move around the scene, and the 3D structure of the virtual scene.

The main outcome will be the characterization of MS with respect to the pattern of optic flow of the stimuli presented to a static and passive observer. Such a characterization will also take into account the locomotion technique (teleport, joystick, walk in place). From this characterization, we expect to be able to predict MS and minimize its effects by subtracting the component of visual flow that most affects the users.

Moreover, the influence of the users’ actions inside the VR environments on MS will be analyzed.

1)To analyze the state of the art of motion perception in the human brain
2) To analyze the existing literature on VR sickness and the models developed to predict MS.
2)To collect visual data from different explorations of scenes characterized by different 3D structures.
3) To compute and model the relationships among visual scenes, images on the HMD displays, tracked motion of the observer, optic flow, and self-assessed sickness.

The students will be involved in programming VR environments, performing experiments with subjects, analyzing collected data and developing computational models of MS