Valentin Schwind, Author at Visual Computing BLOG

In summer, I was at Facebook/Oculus in Redmond (USA). My internship was in the perceptual science group at Oculus Research. My work was closely related to my thesis topic as well as to my work in the SFB-TRR 161 at the Institute for Visualization and Interactive Systems, University of Stuttgart (Germany). I was responsible for the development of a study design, the experimental apparatus, and conducting a user study in virtual reality to investigate the effect of virtual hands on tactile perception.

With increasing realism of computer graphics and virtual worlds and digital characters look more and more natural. However, the effect of Uncanny Valley, first described in 1970, prevents too realistic human characters from being accepted. In my Ph.D. thesis, I investigate how the Uncanny Valley affects the user experience in virtual environments and virtual reality and how the effect can be avoided.

We are currently running an online study in the field of graph visualization. We hypothesize an optimum in the ratio of node size and edge width in node-link-diagrams. This study is wrapped in two online games, which are based on such node-link-diagrams. Here, we still need more played games. You do not need to have special knowledge about Graph Theory or similar, you only need to operate your mouse.

Visual Computing BLOG

Author: Valentin Schwind

Research Internship at Oculus in Redmond

How Good is Real?

Online Study in Graph Visualization – Participants wanted!