Effects of Virtual Room Size and Objects on Relative Translation Gain Thresholds in Redirected Walking

This paper investigates how the size of virtual space and objects within it affect the threshold range of relative translation gains, a Redirected Walking (RDW) technique that scales the user’s movement in virtual space in different ratios for the width and depth. While previous studies assert that a virtual room’s size affects relative translation gain thresholds on account of the virtual horizon’s location, additional research is needed to explore this assumption through a structured approach to visual perception in Virtual Reality (VR). We estimate the relative translation gain thresholds in six spatial conditions configured by three room sizes and the presence of virtual objects (3 × 2), which were set according to differing Angles of Declination (AoDs) between eye-gaze and the forward-gaze. Results show that both size and virtual objects significantly affect the threshold range, it being greater in the large-sized condition and furnished condition. This indicates that the effect of relative translation gains can be further increased by constructing a perceived virtual movable space that is even larger than the adjusted virtual movable space and placing objects in it. Our study can be applied to adjust virtual spaces in synchronizing heterogeneous spaces without coordinate distortion where real and virtual objects can be leveraged to create realistic mutual spaces.