research-article

Avoiding virtual humans in a constrained environment: : Exploration of novel behavioural measures

Authors:

Yuliya Patotskaya,

Anne-Hélène Olivier,

Julien Pettré,

Katja ZibrekAuthors Info & Claims

Volume 110, Issue C

Pages 162 - 172

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cag.2023.01.001

Published: 01 February 2023 Publication History

Abstract

In computer animation, the creation of believable and engaging virtual characters has been a long-lasting endeavour. While researchers investigated several aspects of character design, not many studies focused on the qualities of biological human motion itself. We approached the perception of motion from the perspective of distinct movement patterns which can be observed on people with neurotic and emotionally stable personality traits. We designed an experiment in virtual reality, using a photo-realistic metro scenario, where we studied the avoidance behaviour of participants when encountering these two types of virtual characters in a constrained environment. We also make a contribution by successfully implementing two behavioural measures in particular: a choice task, and a novel ‘turning point’ metric, which calculates the point in the trajectory when people turned to avoid the character. Our results indicate that users’ behaviour is affected by character’s motion and we propose the use of these behavioural measures to investigate other aspects of character motion in future research.

References

[1]

Seinfeld S., Arroyo-Palacios J., Iruretagoyena G., Hortensius R., Zapata L.E., Borland D., et al., Offenders become the victim in virtual reality: Impact of changing perspective in domestic violence, Sci Rep 8 (1) (2018),.

[2]

Sharar S.R., Miller W., Teeley A., Soltani M., Hoffman H.G., Jensen M.P., et al., Applications of virtual reality for pain management in burn-injured patients, Expert Rev Neurother 8 (11) (2008) 1667–1674,.

[3]

Volonte M., Hsu Y.-C., Liu K.-Y., Mazer J.P., Wong S.-K., Babu S.V., Effects of interacting with a crowd of emotional virtual humans on users’ affective and non-verbal behaviors, in: 2020 IEEE conference on virtual reality and 3D user interfaces, VR, IEEE, 2020, pp. 293–302,.

[4]

Torre I., Carrigan E., Domijan K., McDonnell R., Harte N., The effect of audio-visual smiles on social influence in a cooperative human–agent interaction task, ACM Trans Comput-Hum Interact 28 (6) (2021) 1–38,.

Digital Library

[5]

Zibrek K., McDonnell R., Does render style affect perception of personality in virtual humans?, in: Bailey R., Kuhl S., Mohler B.J., Singh K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the ACM symposium on applied perception, ACM, 2014, pp. 111–115,.

Digital Library

[6]

Bönsch A, Weyers B, Wendt J, Freitag S, Kuhlen TW. Collision Avoidance in the Presence of a Virtual Agent in Small-Scale Virtual Environments. In: IEEE symposium on 3D user interfaces. 2016, p. 145–8.

[7]

Bourgaize S.M., McFadyen B.J., Cinelli M.E., Collision avoidance behaviours when circumventing people of different sizes in various positions and locations, J Motor Behav 53 (2) (2021) 166–175,.

[8]

Johansson G., Visual perception of biological motion and a model for its analysis, Percept Psychophys 14 (2) (1973) 201–211,.

[9]

Kozlowski L.T., Cutting J.E., Recognizing the sex of a walker from a dynamic point-light display, Percept Psychophys 21 (6) (1977) 575–580,.

[10]

Chaminade T., Hodgins J., Kawato M., Anthropomorphism influences perception of computer-animated characters’ actions, Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2 (3) (2007) 206–216,.

[11]

Guay M., Ronfard R., Gleicher M., Cani M.-P., Adding dynamics to sketch-based character animations, in: Sketch-based interfaces and modeling (SBIM) 2015, Eurographics Association, 2015, pp. 27–34.

[12]

Ahuja K., Ofek E., Gonzalez-Franco M., Holz C., Wilson A.D., CoolMoves: User motion accentuation in virtual reality, in: Proc. acm interact. mob. wearable ubiquitous technol, Vol. 5, no. 2, Association for Computing Machinery, 2021,.

Digital Library

[13]

De Gelder B., Towards the neurobiology of emotional body language, Nat Rev Neurosci 7 (3) (2006) 242–249,.

[14]

Choi B., i Ribera R.B., Lewis J.P., Seol Y., Hong S., Eom H., et al., SketchiMo: Sketch-based motion editing for articulated characters, ACM Trans Graph 35 (4) (2016),.

Digital Library

[15]

Neff M, Fiume E. Aesthetic edits for character animation. In: Proceedings of the 2003 ACM SIGGRAPH/eurographics symposium on computer animation. 2003, p. 239–44.

[16]

Hoyet L., Ryall K., Zibrek K., Park H., Lee J., Hodgins J., et al., Evaluating the distinctiveness and attractiveness of human motions on realistic virtual bodies, ACM Trans Graph 32 (6) (2013) 1–11,.

Digital Library

[17]

Laban R., The mastery of movement on the stage, Macdonald & Evans, 1950.

[18]

Goldberg L.R., The development of markers for the big-five factor structure, Psychol Assess 4 (1) (1992) 26,.

[19]

Argyle M., Bodily communication, Methuen & Co Ltd, New York, 1988,.

[20]

Fukayama A, Ohno T, Mukawa N, Sawaki M, Hagita N. Messages embedded in gaze of interface agents—impression management with agent’s gaze. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. 2002, https://doi.org/10.1145/503376.503385.

[21]

Matsumoto K., Shibata S., Seiji S., Mori C., Shioe K., Factors influencing the processing of visual information from non-verbal communications, Psychiat Clin Neurosci 64 (3) (2010) 299–308,.

[22]

Durupinar F., Kapadia M., Deutsch S., Neff M., Badler N.I., PERFORM: Perceptual approach for adding OCEAN personality to human motion using laban movement analysis, ACM Trans Graph 36 (1) (2016),.

Digital Library

[23]

Neff M., Toothman N., Bowmani R., Fox Tree J.E., Walker M.A., Don’t scratch! self-adaptors reflect emotional stability, in: International workshop on intelligent virtual agents, Springer, 2011, pp. 398–411,.

[24]

Zibrek K., Niay B., Olivier A.-H., Hoyet L., Pettre J., McDonnell R., The effect of gender and attractiveness of motion on proximity in virtual reality, ACM Trans Appl Percept (TAP) 17 (4) (2020) 1–15,.

[25]

Bönsch A., Radke S., Overath H., Asché L.M., Wendt J., Vierjahn T., et al., Social VR: How personal space is affected by virtual agents’ emotions, in: 2018 IEEE conference on virtual reality and 3D user interfaces, IEEE, 2018,.

[26]

Mathes E.W., Kahn A., Physical attractiveness, happiness, neuroticism, and self-esteem, J Psychol 90 (1) (1975) 27–30,.

[27]

Pan X., Hamilton A.F.d.C., Why and how to use virtual reality to study human social interaction: The challenges of exploring a new research landscape, Br J Psychol 109 (3) (2018) 395–417,.

[28]

Brument H., Marchal M., Olivier A.-H., Argelaguet F., Influence of dynamic field of view restrictions on rotation gain perception in virtual environments, in: International conference on virtual reality and augmented reality, Springer, 2020,.

Digital Library

[29]

Berton F., Hoyet L., Olivier A.-H., Bruneau J., Le Meur O., Pettré J., Eye-gaze activity in crowds: Impact of virtual reality and density, in: 2020 IEEE conference on virtual reality and 3D user interfaces, IEEE, 2020, pp. 322–331,.

[30]

Berton F., Olivier A.-H., Bruneau J., Hoyet L., Pettre J., Studying Gaze behaviour during collision avoidance with a virtual Walker: Influence of the virtual reality setup, 2019, pp. 717–725,.

[31]

Cirio G., Olivier A.-H., Marchal M., Pettré J., Kinematic evaluation of virtual walking trajectories, IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graphics 19 (4) (2013) 671–680,.

Digital Library

[32]

Perrinet J., Olivier A.-H., Pettré J., Walk with me: Interactions in emotional walking situations, a pilot study, in: Proceedings of the ACM symposium on applied perception, Association for Computing Machinery, 2013,.

Digital Library

[33]

Mousas C., Kao D., Koilias A., Rekabdar B., Evaluating virtual reality locomotion interfaces on collision avoidance task with a virtual character, Vis Comput 37 (2021) 2823–2839,.

Digital Library

[34]

Sanz F.A., Olivier A.-H., Bruder G., Pettré J., Lécuyer A., Virtual proxemics: Locomotion in the presence of obstacles in large immersive projection environments, in: 2015 IEEE virtual reality, 2015, pp. 75–80,.

[35]

Lange B., Pauli P., Social anxiety changes the way we move—A social approach-avoidance task in a virtual reality CAVE system, PLOS ONE 14 (2019),.

[36]

Mousas C, Koilias A, Anastasiou D, Rekabdar B, Anagnostopoulos C-NE. Effects of Self-Avatar and Gaze on Avoidance Movement Behavior. In: 2019 IEEE conference on virtual reality and 3D user interfaces. 2019, p. 726–34.

[37]

Mousas C., Koilias A., Rekabdar B., Kao D., Anastasiou D., Toward understanding the effects of virtual character appearance on avoidance movement behavior, 2021, pp. 40–49,.

[38]

Hackney A.L., Cinelli M.E., Frank J.S., Does the passability of apertures change when walking through human versus pole obstacles?, Acta Psychol 162 (2015) 62–68,.

[39]

Lee M., Bruder G., Höllerer T., Welch G., Effects of unaugmented periphery and vibrotactile feedback on proxemics with virtual humans in AR, IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graphics 24 (4) (2018) 1525–1534,.

Digital Library

[40]

Iachini T., Coello Y., Frassinetti F., Senese V.P., Galante F., Ruggiero G., Peripersonal and interpersonal space in virtual and real environments: Effects of gender and age, J Environ Psychol 45 (2016) 154–164,.

[41]

Gérin-Lajoie M., Richards C., McFadyen B., The negotiation of stationary and moving obstructions during walking: Anticipatory locomotor adaptations and preservation of personal space, Motor Control 9 (2005) 242–269.

[42]

Neff M., Wang Y., Abbott R., Walker M., Evaluating the effect of gesture and language on personality perception in conversational agents, in: International conference on intelligent virtual agents, Springer, 2010,.

[43]

Gosling S.D., Rentfrow P.J., Swann W.B. Jr., A very brief measure of the big-five personality domains, J Res Personal 37 (6) (2003) 504–528.

[44]

Bailenson J.N., Blascovich J., Beall A.C., Loomis J.M., Interpersonal distance in immersive virtual environments, Personal Soc Psychol Bull 29 (7) (2003) 819–833,.

[45]

Slater M., Cabriera C., Senel G., Banakou D., Beacco A., Oliva R., et al., The sentiment of a virtual rock concert, Virt Real (2022),.

Digital Library

[46]

Gonzalez-Franco M., Peck T.C., Avatar embodiment. Towards a standardized questionnaire, Front Robot AI 5 (2018) 74,.

[47]

Hall E.T., The hidden dimension, 1969.

Cited By

Patotskaya YHoyet LZibrek KPettre J(2024)Entropy and Speed: Effects of Obstacle Motion Properties on Avoidance Behavior in Virtual EnvironmentACM Symposium on Applied Perception 202410.1145/3675231.3675236(1-13)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3675231.3675236
Bourgaize SCinelli MRaimbaud PHoyet LOlivier A(2024)Collision avoidance behaviours of young adult walkers: Influence of a virtual pedestrian's age-related appearance and gait profileACM Symposium on Applied Perception 202410.1145/3675231.3675233(1-10)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3675231.3675233
Yin THoyet LChristie MCani MPettré J(2024)With or Without You: Effect of Contextual and Responsive Crowds on VR-based Crowd Motion CaptureIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2024.337203830:5(2785-2795)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2024.3372038
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Avoiding virtual humans in a constrained environment: Exploration of novel behavioural measures
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Computer graphics
    1. Animation
    2. Graphics systems and interfaces
      1. Virtual reality
  2. Modeling and simulation
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction paradigms
      1. Mixed / augmented reality
      2. Virtual reality

Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

Recommendations

Investigating Social Distances between Humans, Virtual Humans and Virtual Robots in Mixed Reality
AAMAS '18: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Autonomous Agents and MultiAgent Systems

Mixed reality environments offer new potentials for the design of compelling social interaction experiences with virtual characters. In this paper, we summarise initial experiments we are conducting in which we measure comfortable social distances ...
Does render style affect perception of personality in virtual humans?
SAP '14: Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Applied Perception

Delivering appealing virtual characters conveying personality is becoming extremely important in the entertainment industry and beyond. A theory called the 'Uncanny Valley' has been used to describe the phenomenon that the appearance of a virtual ...
Thinning trainer based on forest-growth model, virtual reality and computer-aided virtual environment

Immersive virtual reality is applied in many human activities. This virtual reality can be used as a training tool for thinning operations in forests. The aim of this study is to describe the complex solution of Thinning Trainer, that we developed. This ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image Computers and Graphics

Computers and Graphics Volume 110, Issue C

Feb 2023

189 pages

ISSN:0097-8493

Issue’s Table of Contents

Elsevier Ltd.

Publisher

Pergamon Press, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 February 2023

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

6
Total Citations
View Citations
0
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)0
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 24 Jan 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Patotskaya YHoyet LZibrek KPettre J(2024)Entropy and Speed: Effects of Obstacle Motion Properties on Avoidance Behavior in Virtual EnvironmentACM Symposium on Applied Perception 202410.1145/3675231.3675236(1-13)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3675231.3675236
Bourgaize SCinelli MRaimbaud PHoyet LOlivier A(2024)Collision avoidance behaviours of young adult walkers: Influence of a virtual pedestrian's age-related appearance and gait profileACM Symposium on Applied Perception 202410.1145/3675231.3675233(1-10)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3675231.3675233
Yin THoyet LChristie MCani MPettré J(2024)With or Without You: Effect of Contextual and Responsive Crowds on VR-based Crowd Motion CaptureIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2024.337203830:5(2785-2795)Online publication date: 4-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2024.3372038
Raimbaud PJovane AZibrek KPacchierotti CChristie MHoyet LPettré JOlivier A(2023)The Stare-in-the-Crowd Effect When Navigating a Crowd in Virtual RealityACM Symposium on Applied Perception 202310.1145/3605495.3605796(1-10)Online publication date: 5-Aug-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605495.3605796
Huang WWong SVolonte MBabu S(2023)Impact of Socio-Demographic Attributes and Mutual Gaze of Virtual Humans on Users’ Visual Attention and Collision Avoidance in VRIEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics10.1109/TVCG.2023.332951530:9(6146-6163)Online publication date: 2-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/TVCG.2023.3329515
Jorge J(2023)Editorial NoteComputers and Graphics10.1016/j.cag.2023.01.014110:C(A1-A3)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.cag.2023.01.014

View Options

View options

Figures

Tables

Media

View Issue’s Table of Contents