Investigating a simple technique to alter viewpoint height in immersive 360° video

A user’s perceived height can have a significant impact on their experience in an immersive telepresence environment. However, virtually manipulating the user’s height (if physical adjustment of the camera is not possible) introduces distortions which may counteract positive effects caused by an adjusted height. In a user study of 68 participants, we implemented a simple method for virtually adjusting a user’s height in an immersive telepresence meeting which was pre-recorded via a 360° camera to observe the trade-off between the height shift and its ensuing distortions. The shifted-height condition was created via software by changing the position of the virtual camera within the 3-D projection sphere, a simple technique which introduces mild visual distortions. Participants were asked to attend two meetings in immersive telepresence, at normal and increased heights. Our results indicate that while participants were able to detect the visual distortions at an above chance rate, these distortions had little influence on the participants’ preferences between conditions, supporting this technique as a viable method of virtually altering a user’s height in immersive telepresence environments.