Effects of Field of View on Judgements of Self-Location: Distance Estimations Using Plainview Representations as a Function of Observer Eye Station Points (ESP) and Geometric Field of View (FOVg)

The accurate location of one's (sometimes virtual) egocenter in a geometric space is of critical importance for immersion technologies. Self - location is a relatively unexplored component of size and distance estimations. This experiment was conducted to investigate the role of field of view (FOV) and observer eye station points (ESP) in the perception of the location of one's egocenter (the personal viewpoint) in virtual space. Fifty students viewed an animated 3D model, either of a similar room to the one where they sat, or of a space of round orbs of unfamiliar size, binocularly, from ESPs of either 1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 feet. The display was on an 190 by 245 mm monitor, at a resolution of 320 by 200 pixels with 256 colors. They saw six models of both the room or orbs designed with six geometric field of view (FOVg) conditions of 18, 28, 37, 48, 86, and 140 degrees. They drew the apparent paths of the camera in each model of the room on a bitmap image of the room as seen from infinity above. The results indicate that distance perception and self - location are substantially affected by the display field of view and the computed field of view of the synthetic environment. The errors in self - location may underlie the widespread findings of underestimation of distances in virtual worlds and computer - generated imagery. They may also contribute to a better understanding of the many findings of simulator sickness in realistic tank and helicopter trainers. These results offer a new understanding of the phenomena that may be exploited to create solutions for improving training and real - time use of computer - generated imagery.