Computer Science ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (7): 80-90.doi: 10.11896/jsjkx.250800026

• Computer Graphics & Multimedia • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Research on Speed Driven Scene Scaling in Virtual Reality to Improve Walking and Searching Efficiency

JI Hongru1,2, REN Yangfu1,2,3, XU Senzhe4, ZHANG Songhai1,2,3   

  1. 1 School of Computer Technology and Application,Qinghai University,Xining 810016,China
    2 Qinghai Provincial Laboratory of Intelligent Computing and Applications,Xining 810016,China
    3 Department of Computer Science and Technology,Tsinghua University,Beijing 100084,China
    4 School of Computer and Communication Engineering,University of Science and Technology Beijing,Beijing 100083,China
  • Received:2025-08-07 Revised:2025-11-23 Online:2026-07-15 Published:2026-07-10
  • About author:JI Hongru,born in 1999,postgraduate,is a student member of CCF(No.A13547G).Her main research interest is virtual reality.
    REN Yangfu,born in 1988,postgra-duate,lecturer,is a member of CCF(No.62198 M).His main research interests include computer graphics and virtual reality.
  • Supported by:
    National Key R&D Program of China(2023YFF0905104),National Natural Science Foundation of China(62402281),Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(FRF-TP-25-036),Tsinghua-Tencent Joint Laboratory for Internet Innovation Technology and Comprehensive Reform and High Quality Development of Graduate Education(Funding)(101601-4211010101).

Abstract: Virtual reality(VR)provides users with an immersive 3D digital environment,but it is still a technical challenge to realize natural walking without being limited by physical space.Previous VR mobility methods,such as transmission,walking in place,and redirected walking(RDW),have made some progress in overcoming this challenge.However,these methods also face some limitations,such as the sense of unnatural,additional hardware requirements or the risk of motion sickness.This paper proposes an innovative VR movement method called “three-dimensional space contraction”,which is inspired by the Lorentz contraction phenomenon in special relativity.Similar to Lorenz contraction,the three-dimensional space contraction shrinks the three-dimensional virtual space according to the size of the user's moving speed,that is,when the user's speed is high,the virtual space shrinks more,at this time,the person will be relatively high,thus the vision will be wider,while when the user's moving speed is low,the three-dimensional virtual space shows almost no contraction.Using the method of three-dimensional space contraction,users can not only effectively span a long virtual distance through a shorter physical walk,but also have a broader vision.The difference from the translation gain is that space contraction effect is observable by users and consistent with their intentions,so there is no inconsistency between the user's ontology and visual perception.VR users will become giants according to the change of speed during walking,so that the vision will be wider and the search efficiency will be improved.When the user's physical movement speed is relatively slow,the virtual space approaches its original size,thereby reducing perceptual conflicts.3D space contraction is a general moving method,which has no special requirements for VR scenes.Experimental results of field user research in various virtual scenes show that 3D space contraction has a significant effect in improving walking efficiency and search efficiency.In addition,experiments also show that 3D space contraction has the potential to integrate with existing mobile technologies(such as RDW).

Key words: Virtual reality, Space compression, Movement, Walking speed, Search efficiency

CLC Number: 

  • TP391
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