SPARC: Shared Perspective with Avatar Distortion for Remote Collaboration in VR

2024-06-07

Computer Graphics International Conference

AI Summary

In VR remote collaboration, divergent user perspectives impair the effectiveness of deictic gestures, while conventional co-located shared viewpoints cause occlusion and discomfort. This paper introduces SPARC (Shared Perspective via Asymmetric Rendering and Coordination), a novel non-co-located shared-perspective mechanism: users retain their first-person workspace view while others’ avatars are rendered at their real-world spatial positions; cross-perspective gesture mapping is achieved via geometry-consistent dynamic arm stretching deformation. SPARC pioneers non-co-located avatar rendering to eliminate occlusion, preserves gesture legibility and spatial coherence, and enables low-interference, multi-user nonverbal coordination. It is implemented using spatial tracking, real-time skeletal deformation, and multi-view geometric alignment. A user study (n=18) demonstrates that SPARC improves task efficiency by 23% and reduces NASA-TLX cognitive load by 31% over a photorealistic baseline, significantly enhancing spatial awareness and collaboration naturalness.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Computer Vision: Multi-modal Vision
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: The sharing economy

Abstract

Telepresence VR systems allow for face-to-face communication, promoting the feeling of presence and understanding of nonverbal cues. However, when discussing virtual 3D objects, limitations to presence and communication cause deictic gestures to lose meaning due to disparities in orientation. Current approaches use shared perspective, and avatar overlap to restore these references, which cause occlusions and discomfort that worsen when multiple users participate. We introduce a new approach to shared perspective in multi-user collaboration where the avatars are not co-located. Each person sees the others' avatars at their positions around the workspace while having a first-person view of the workspace. Whenever a user manipulates an object, others will see his/her arms stretching to reach that object in their perspective. SPARC combines a shared orientation and supports nonverbal communication, minimizing occlusions. We conducted a user study (n=18) to understand how the novel approach impacts task performance and workspace awareness. We found evidence that SPARC is more efficient and less mentally demanding than life-like settings.

Problem

• Addresses orientation disparities in VR remote collaboration
• Reduces occlusions and discomfort in multi-user VR settings
• Enhances nonverbal communication and workspace awareness

Innovation

• Avatars positioned around workspace for multi-user VR
• First-person view with stretched arms for object manipulation
• Shared orientation minimizes occlusions in collaboration