What are the best ways to create a sense of presence in a VR training simulation?

in simple terms: Utilize advanced graphic techniques (photogrammetry, NERF, Gaussian splatting) for realistic visuals. Provide customizable locomotion options to enhance user comfort in VR. Create an immersive sound environment to amplify the sense of presence. Emphasize realistic lighting as a key element for an authentic virtual experience.

Before thinking about how to create a good immersive environment, it's important to know what makes a VR environment less immersive, with a weak sense of presence. The main cause is poor graphics quality; unrealistic and low-resolution graphics can remind users that they are in a simulation. In addition, the design needs to be consistent, inconsistencies that don't match the physical logic of the real world will break immersion and presence. Furthermore, external distractions such as loud noises or movement can disrupt immersion and presence. It is therefore important to adopt a multimodal environment by integrating many senses into the environment such as sight, sound, haptics, and why not olfactif.

One of the worst thing a lot of developers do is they focus on imaging only. They overspend their work hours and budget on how things look and they forget that there is no way of getting perfect imaging for "newcommers". What you can do is to have the best spatial sound experience you can so the user can feel where he or she is even when they close their eyes. Let the imagination take some of this responsibility off you.

In VR design, prioritize creating realistic and natural environments over traditional website UIs to enhance user presence. Opt for immersive, interactive elements—like having users pick up a book to read its contents—over plain text displays. This human-centered approach deepens immersion and makes the experience more intuitive and engaging.

to get the most realistic scene possible you could use technology such as photogrammetry where you grab real life assets, take photos of the asset from every angle, and compile them into 3D virtual assets. If you have the budget, you could use a 3D scanner as an alternative but good ones can cost quite a lot of money. You will need to clean up the models before you put them in engine but this is a good way to ensure your scene matches something the user would see in real life. Another thing to note is this method is not standalone VR friendly due to the quality of assets created.

Enabling natural interaction is key to fostering presence in VR training. Users should seamlessly engage with the environment through gestures and movements, enhancing immersion. In medical simulations, tactile feedback and hand-based interactions emulate real-world experiences, reinforcing learning outcomes and ensuring a dynamic and engaging training environment.

Interactivity: The more interactive the environment, the greater the sense of presence. Users should be able to interact with objects in the virtual world in a way that feels natural and intuitive, mimicking real-life interactions as closely as possible. User-Centered Design: Tailor the experience to the user. This includes adjustable settings for comfort and accessibility, ensuring the VR experience can be customized to suit individual needs and preferences.

VR environments must deliver seamless interaction, ensuring both usefulness and ease of use, whether for educational, shopping, or religious tourism experiences. This technology holds immense potential to transform these domains by: Enhancing Education: Imagine exploring historical events firsthand or virtually dissecting a biological model. VR can make learning interactive and engaging, boosting knowledge retention. Revolutionizing Shopping: Try on clothes in a virtual fitting room or explore furniture in your own living space. VR can personalize the shopping experience and bridge the gap between online and physical retail.

Even if its not important to what the user is leaning, the user should be able to interact with everything that can move or be picked up. If you app is to train users correctly then they will need to know what happens when they turn the wrong valve or use the wrong tool. Your app should then respond accurately based on the users feedback and provide a warning as to why what they did is incorrect or dangerous.

In terms of interaction, latency, that is the delay between the user's actions and the VR environment's response, can break immersion. Also, tracking issues and unrealistic hand and body movements break the illusion of presence. Finally, physical comfort is essential to maintain the sense of presence and immersion. Preventing nausea and dizziness is essential for a successful experience.

If you want to create a realistic training scenarios then you will need to do an in-depth study on what you are teaching. You will need to know things like what sounds are played as well as why and when and how every thing interacts with one another. If the device you are training for is to complicated for you, then partner up with an expert on the device and get them to work along side you as you develop the simulator.

In my experience any kind of feedback from the environment in virtual reality is crucial for creating a realistic and immersive experience. Real-time responses to user actions, such as visual, auditory and especially haptic feedback, enhance the sense of presence and engagement, making the virtual world feel more convincing. This feedback helps users navigate and interact with the VR environment, contributing to a more compelling and user experience.

Our favorite element to create interactivity and feedback is our AI Airtaxi Coach in Metapilot. The fact that people can speak with it directly makes all the difference in the world!

Offering responsive feedback enhances presence in VR training, ensuring users feel connected and engaged. Timely cues, like speed and altitude indicators in flight simulations, guide decision-making and skill development. Dynamic feedback, tailored to individual progress, fosters a personalized and effective learning journey, maximizing user immersion and training effectiveness.

Haptic Feedback: Incorporate tactile feedback through VR controllers or wearable haptic devices. This feedback can simulate the sensation of touching objects, feeling textures, or experiencing resistance, which enhances the realism of the simulation. Motion Tracking: Implement accurate and responsive motion tracking to ensure that the movements of the user's body and head are mirrored precisely in the virtual world. This helps in making the user feel truly "present" in the VR environment.

Soziale Verbindung lassen sich durch XR-Anwendungen erfolgreich und einfach pflegen. Da Menschen sich vielfältig ausdrücken, sollten dementsprechend auch möglichst viele Optionen bereitgestellt werden, welche intuitiv verwendet werden können. Im besten Falle sollte sich die Person im virtuellen Raum möglichst so verständigen können, als wäre sie tatsächlich im selben Raum mit anderen Personen.

While this is listed as a fourth step, I would propose to investigate the technical approach to achieving a multiplayer experience as part of the first step. Multiplayer experiences can take up significant internet bandwidth as well as CPU/GPU time. You'll notice that the graphics of multiplayer experiences mostly pale in comparison to AA single player VR games. Compromises have to be made to account for the resources multiplayer systems need.

1. High quality graphic contents. 2. Interaction with real players/users. 3. Intuitive control, better be hand gesture control. 4. Reduce latency as much as possible

So one thing we did in Metapilot is to allow the user to speak to the AI game avatar. Another will be touch, grabbing objects, and in the case of flight sim getting control of the cockpit.

Facilitating social interaction enhances presence in VR, fostering collaboration and connection among users. Enabling communication and cooperation, whether in real-time or asynchronously, promotes teamwork and engagement. Incorporating social cues like avatars and gestures creates a sense of shared space, enhancing immersion and enriching the collaborative experience in VR simulations.

Adaptive Difficulty and Feedback: The simulation should adapt to the user's skill level and provide immediate feedback on their actions. This helps in maintaining engagement and ensures that users feel their actions have a tangible impact on the virtual environment. Physiological and Psychological Comfort: Minimize factors that can disrupt the sense of presence, such as latency, frame rate drops, or visual discomfort. Ensuring the VR experience is comfortable and does not cause motion sickness or disorientation is crucial for maintaining immersion.

I would argue that attaining presence will feed user's motivation to complete a simulation, and not the other way around. Engaging in a VR simulation already has its intrinsic motivators, motivating them to "keeping them in" must come from the level of immersion and the sense of presence the experience brings.

Motivation is key with thousands of online games right now. Tracking progress, creating tournaments etc. is one way. We found that creating a reward system on the real world if even more powerful.

In our company's developments, we've found that incorporating leaderboards and comparison tables among all collaborators serves as a significant motivator. By ensuring that results aren't confined within the VR experience but become part of the company's internal communication plans, we've successfully integrated motivation into training initiatives. This approach not only encourages users to actively participate and complete the simulations but also fosters healthy competition and a sense of achievement among employees.

Je nach Zielgruppe und Einsatzbereich der Anwendung kann es sinnvoll sein, bestimmte Parameter festzulegen die während des Trainings abgefragt werden und zu einer späteren Auswertung führen. So kann der Anwender seine Fähigkeiten eigenst überprüfen und Lernerfolge erzielen um so öfter er die Anwendung verwendet. Ggf. können sogar Zertifikate an solche Parameterauswertungen gekoppelt werden.

I think the best way to tackle this is to allow the user to evaluate themself through the environmental and simulation interactions. As far as feedback is concerned, unless goals are determined, the user must be able to create an evaluation for himself. For a driving training simulation, evaluation can be done post-experience (result page, etc.) and not within the experience loop to create a deeper sense of presence.

Hände und Latenz. Wir gleichen unsere Warnehmung mit Blick auf unsere Hände ab. Gute latenzarme Reaktion dieser ist der erste Meilenstein bei der Herstellung von Präsenz. Lippensynchroner, spatial eingeordneter, ebenfalls latenzarme Audioübertragung (Sprachchat) ist meiner Einschätzung nach der zweite Baustein um eine Präsenz aufzubauen. Kurzum: Ich glaube zuerst, dass ich in meiner Umgebung wirken kann bevor meine Umgebung auf mich wirkt.

You want to think about the balance of the items, effects, and interactions in the virtual space. If sourcing audio, whether sound effects or voice over, ensure the levels match and that no one file sounds out of place. You may want to leverage positional audio to provide even more immersion. Balance can also come with spatially planning the environment. Don’t just through items in a space. Intentionally design how and where things will go to create interest all around the user. Set dress the virtual area like a stage play. Stand in the virtual space yourself and notice if anything seems off. Play with the space to find the balance, as balance impacts immersion and presence significantly.

In my experience a sense of presence happens when the experience is more interesting than the discomfort of the headset sitting on a player's head, the feel of the controller, or remembering which buttons to press. When people are engaged in what they are doing and genuinely interested, then they will feel more present. It's as much about the content as it is about the technical details. Humans want to be interested in what we're doing, especially in education and variety helps. In architecture tours I would always arrange the characters in little stories to maintain interest. I'd also hide a cat or several cats for something fun to find. People need more to think about in the experience than just the training to feel interested & present.