Authors:
David Petrescu
1
;
Paul Warren
2
;
Zahra Montazeri
1
;
Gabriel Strain
1
and
Steve Pettifer
1
Affiliations:
1
University of Manchester, Human-Computer Systems, U.K.
;
2
University of Manchester, Virtual Reality Research (VR2) Facility, Division of Psychology, Communication and Human Neuroscience, U.K.
Keyword(s):
Foveated Rendering, Variable Rate Shading, Psychophysics, Movement, Attention, Virtual Reality.
Abstract:
As prices fall, VR technology is experiencing renewed levels of consumer interest. Despite wider access, VR still requires levels of computational ability and bandwidth that often cannot be achieved with consumer-grade equipment. Foveated rendering represents one of the most promising methods for the optimization of VR content while keeping the quality of the user’s experience intact. The user’s ability to explore and move through the environment with 6DOF separates VR from traditional display technologies. In this work, we explore if the type of movement (Active versus Implied) and attentional task type (Simple Fixations versus Fixation, Discrimination, and Counting) affect the extent to which a dynamic foveated rendering method using Variable Rate Shading (VRS) optimizes a VR scene. Using psychophysics methods we conduct user studies and recover the Maximum Tolerated Diameter (MTD) at which users fail to notice drops in quality. We find that during self-movement, performing a task
that requires more attention masks severe shading reductions and that only 31.7% of the headset’s FOV is required to be rendered at the native pixel sampling rate.
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