A New Representation Framework for View-Out Research

To address the current gap in view-out research, this study aims to develop a workflow able to accurately capture dynamic views in an experimental setting. In testing the suitability of the proposed methodology, we conducted two comparative studies on the participants’ perceptual impressions using VR. In the first experiment, participants (N=34) were asked to observe window views in two different conditions - one from a real office and the other projected in VR, which was recorded from the same office space using the proposed scene collection method at the start of the experiment. Participants’ responses from this experiment were compared between the real and virtual environments to evaluate the perceptual accuracy of using VR for view-out studies. In the second study, the same participants were shown two variations of the pre-recorded view scenes with and without the use of a scale model during the scene collection process. The results of this study were used to determine whether framing the views might enhance perceived presence and realism in representing view-out in an immersive virtual environment (IVE). This study is the first to test the suitability of using VR in maintaining immersion and dynamism when studying the perception of daylit views-out, using original data based on human-subjects. Findings show how VR can be an appropriate experimental tool for representing window views from office environments. By conducting these experiments, the authors were also able to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel workflow of representing views in physically-based IVE, using a dual fisheye lens combined with a scale model. This work opens up new experimental paths in reliably representing dynamic movements and temporal changes in views-out when conducting studies about them.