A Study on New Virtual Reality System in Maze Terrain

ABSTRACT

This study proposes the maze virtual reality (MVR) system, which is designed to provide new immersive virtual reality (VR) experiences by generating a maze and an event-based maze environment. The MVR system consists of a maze generation technique based on mazemap, which we additionally propose for the automatic generation of diverse maze patterns, event-enhancing immersion, reducing VR sickness, and interactions. First, we present a finite algorithm that automatically generates diverse maze patterns from the user perspective and implements mazemap for automated three-dimensional (3D) terrain generation from a 2D maze pattern. Then, we present optimized events for the maze environment by providing users with deeper immersion and minimized VR sickness. The design procedure is divided into two elements: an automatic structure for arranging predefined events based on maze pattern analysis and a manual operation module. In addition, a Leap Motion-based interactive scheme is implemented for deeper immersion when the user moves in a limited space, while improving object control. Finally, experiments were conducted to analyze user satisfaction with the MVR system, the psychological impact of the continuous mazemap input, and the effects of the event-based environment on immersion enhancement and VR sickness reduction.

Funding

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No. NRF-2014R1A1A2055834).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (No. NRF-2014R1A1A2055834).

Notes on contributors

Kisung Jeong

Kisung Jeong is currently a master student in the Department of Visual Information Processing at Korea University. He received a BE degree at the Department of Software, Catholic University of Pusan. His research interests include VR and AR.

Jiwon Lee

Jiwon Lee is currently a bachelor degree’s student of Department of Software, Catholic University of Pusan in Korea. Her research interests include computer graphics and virtual reality.

Jinmo Kim

Jinmo Kim is an assistant professor of Department of Software, Catholic University of Pusan. He received his BE degree in Multimedia Engineering from Dongguk University in 2006 and his ME & PhD degrees in Multimedia from Dongguk University in 2008 and 2012, respectively. His research interests include computer graphics and virtual reality.