This project looks at a new method for use of Redirected Rotation, with the use of a particle based weather condition. The Virtual Environment (VE) and weather condition used for this study is a winter landscape using a snow storm as the weather condition. The project looks at the previous work within the field of Redirection techniques for Virtual Reality (VR). The study for this project had three conditions, a condition with no snow, one where the snow was moving away from the participant’s rotation and the last one following the participant’s rotational direction.
The study was performed on 36 participants using the Oculus Rift Developers Kit 1. Showing a significant difference between both of the snow conditions and the no snow condition. No difference was found between the two snow conditions. The thresholds for the three conditions were as follows
NoSnow: 1.03 >= Rotation gain >=1.41, SnowFlee: 0.89 >= Rotation gain >= 1.28, SnowFollow: 0.92 >= Rotation gain >= 1.30.
All participants filled out the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) before and after the test. For the SSQ a significant difference was found for all four categories (Nausea, Oculomotor, Disorientation and Total Score), meaning that the study resulted in an increase of simulator sickness. None of the participants complained about motion sickness after the test.
The project lays ground for continued research with the use of weather conditions as a way to contribute to redirection for outdoor scenarios.