New immersive display systems are emerging as platforms for presenting three dimensional data and virtual worlds. However, little effort has been spent on evaluating these systems or providing guiding design principles from a human factors point of view. The PIs argue that interconnected tiled screens have the potential to be as effective as more costly continuous image systems. Demonstrating this potential would in effect significantly drive down the cost of 3D immersive visualization, paving the way for much broader application areas than are now possible (imagine, for example, a science teacher able to show her students a 3D visualization of DNA and to have them interact with the model on a low cost immersive display). To this end, in this project the PIs will compare performance and user interaction on a low-cost, multi-screen spatially immersive visualization system against a more expensive continuous image platform. Their hypothesis is that the low-cost system will present a perceptually equivalent visual experience, despite image seams introduced by the connecting display screens. Psychophysical experimentation will compare the two systems through human judgments based on performance. Project outcomes will also provide insights into optimal hardware and software display configuration when building large multi-screen displays. The PI has an extensive background in conducting experiments involving human subjects, while the Co-PI brings expertise on building and configuring next generation immersive displays, including one of those to be used in this work, which was developed under a prior NSF award. The team has access at Texas A&M to two complementary immersive systems, putting them in a unique position to conduct this research.
Broader Impacts: The knowledge and insights gained from this work should help make immersive visualization systems available in areas currently unable to afford such systems or to justify the expense, and thus advance discovery and understanding by enhancing the infrastructure for research, while also promoting teaching, training and learning by engaging more (and more diverse) students in science and technology.
