Assessing the User Experience in realistic Virtual Reality Environment: operational framework and experimental Survey

Extended Reality (XR) refers to technologies that allow linking virtual and real worlds and include, in a broad sense, Virtual (VR), Augmented (AR), or Mixed (MR) Reality. The interest in XR is increasing mainly in training operations; however, it is important to consider that XR techniques could sacrifice realism and could require high costs to reproduce real environments. The present study addresses this problem and aims to experimentally test how the level of realism can be implemented and increased in practice and how different levels of realism impact the user experience. A framework for the reconstruction of 3D scenes using photogrammetry is proposed and an experimental campaign is presented to understand the user experience of an XR application, with particular attention given to participants’ feedback about the level of realism of the virtual scenario. The focus of the research is to outline the improvement of the virtual experience owed to the photogrammetric reconstruction. Participants were asked to give their opinions on the comparison between the reconstructed 3D environment and a conventional shaded virtual environment made up of 3D CAD models. This paper contributes to the still limited empirical debate about the implementation of different levels of realism in virtual applications and its impact on participants’ experience. Results show that participants appreciated the photogrammetric reconstructed realistic scenario, proving that realistic scenes can improve the user experience. Participants also found the experience comfortable, appreciating the possibility of interacting with virtual objects using free hands, tracked by the sensor.