Mary Cassin is on the Tango team, working on prototyping VR and AR projects for Google Daydream. At VRWC, she spoke about the design principles for creating useful demo environments, in particular the need to quickly work out how to overcome user discomfort:
- Convergence: Cassin drew the audience’s attention to how a finger held out in front of you will blur if you pull it right up close to your nose. "In VR you need to avoid having the observer focus on multiple objects close up. Keep objects you want to focus on at arms length - or further."
- Motion: Google's team keeps heavy interaction to within 30 degrees in front of the viewer in a, "Defined interaction space - people don't really like to move around. Even though it's VR... people are a little lazy!"
- Horizon: Nausea is a hot topic and a lot of that is to do with the way the landscape moves around you. "You want to keep a stable horizon to avoid making people sick."
- Experience: "Be aware of psychological comfort – don't put people on edges unless you want them to stare at it. And make sure you have a ground plane, unless you're specifically doing a flying experience. For the same reason, don't put people in a small space; they'll get claustrophobic. Or on a wide-open plane; you feel like you're in an endless nowhere - and it's not the best feeling. If you're trying to get people to focus on what you're trying to see, don't make them feel uncomfortable with the environment."
