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Walking interfaces offer advantages in navigation of VE systems over other types of locomotion. However, VR helmets have the disadvantage that users cannot see their immediate surroundings. Our publication describes the prototypical implementation of a virtual environment (VE) system, capable of detecting possible obstacles using an RGB-D sensor. In order to warn users of potential collisions with real objects while they are moving throughout the VE tracking area, we designed 4 different visual warning metaphors: Placeholder, Rubber Band, Color Indicator and Arrow. A small pilot study was carried out in which the participants had to solve a simple task and avoid any arbitrarily placed physical obstacles when crossing the virtual scene. Our results show that the Placeholder metaphor (in this case: trees), compared to the other variants, seems to be best suited for the correct estimation of the position of obstacles and in terms of the ability to evade them.
With this generation of devices, Virtual Reality (VR) has actually made it into the living rooms of end-users. These devices feature 6-DOF tracking, allowing them to move naturally in virtual worlds and experience them even more immersively. However, for a natural locomotion in the virtual, one needs a corresponding free space in the real environment. The available space is often limited, especially in everyday environments and under normal spatial conditions. Furnishings and objects of daily life can quickly become obstacles for VR users if they are not cleared away. Since the idea behind VR is to place users into a virtual world and to hide the real world as much as possible, invisible objects represent potential obstacles. The currently available systems offer only rudimentary assistance for this problem. If a user threatens to leave the space previously defined for use, a visual boundary is displayed to allow orientation within the space. These visual metaphors are intended to prevent users from leaving the safe area. However, there is no detection of potentially dangerous objects within this part of space. Objects that have not been cleared away or that have been added in the meantime may still become obstacles. This thesis shows how possible obstacles in the environment can be detected automatically with range imaging cameras and how users can be effectively warned about them in the virtual environment without significantly disturbing their sense of presence. Four different interactive visual metaphors are used to signalize the obstacles within the VE. With the help of a user study, the four signaling variants and the obstacle detection were evaluated and tested.