Perception of Absolute Distances Within Different Visualization Systems: HMD and CAVE

Abstract

Many studies on distance perception in a virtual environment exist. Most of them were conducted using head-mounted displays (HMD) and less with large screen displays such as CAVE systems. In this paper, we propose to measure the accuracy of perceived distances in a virtual space ranging from 0 to 15 m in a CAVE system compared to an HMD. Eight subjects with different vision performances took part in an experiment. Results show that the HMD provides the best results for distances above 8 m while the CAVE provides the best results for close distances.