In recent years, the extended reality (XR) industry has witnessed remarkable growth, revolutionizing various sectors. The potential of XR to reshape industries and create new business opportunities has captured the attention of entrepreneurs and investors alike, leading to the emergence of numerous early stage businesses venturing into this exciting field. Despite the promising prospects, the XR industry remains in a dynamic and evolving state, presenting both opportunities and challenges for early stage businesses seeking to establish themselves within this competitive landscape. This master thesis aims to explore the experiences of early stage businesses within the extended reality (XR) industry, with the goal of understanding the opportunities and challenges they encounter in the current period of study, spring 2023. The study takes a qualitative research approach, employing observations of early stage XR businesses and semi-structured interviews with professionals within the industry and academia of XR. The analysis is based on thematic analysis applying Disruptive Innovation theory and Adoption Curve Theory combined with Gartner’s Hype Cycle. Together with existing literature the analysis creates a picture of the current opportunities and challenges that exists in the XR field, visualized in a prototype of a 3D mind map. These range from areas such as recruitment, financing and technology development to user adoption, ethics and inclusion. They reflect what businesses are facing in early stages of a relatively new industry as well as some of the political, economical and sociocultural factors. Some of the opportunities are high potential to transform and disrupt industries and markets, creating new ways of interacting in virtual worlds as well as new revenue streams. Some of the challenges are low adoption, funding issues and competition with leading players. Ultimately, the research provides valuable insights of the XR industry which could be used when making strategic decisions for professionals and stakeholders.

This study focused on three different menu designs each with their own unique interactions and organizational structures to determine which design features would perform the best. Fifty-four participants completed 27 tasks using each of the three designs. The menus were analyzed based on task performance, accuracy, usability, intuitiveness, and user preference. Also, an analysis was conducted between two different menu organization styles: top-down menu organization (Method-TD) and bottom-up organization (Method-BU). There was no evidence that demographic factors had any effect on the overall results. By and large, the Stacked menu design received very positive results and feedback from all the participants. The Spatial design received average feedback with some participants preferring it while others struggled to use it and felt that it was too physically demanding. The worst performer was the Radial design that consistently ranked last and failed to pass usability and accuracy tests. A NGOMSL study was conducted to determine any differences in performance between a top-down menu organizational approach and a bottom-up approach or differences between the predicted task completion times and the reported times. The results of this study predicted that the Spatial design should have taken the least amount of time to perform, however, the experimental results showed that the Stacked design in fact out-performed the Spatial design’s task completion times. A potential explanation as to why the Stacked outperformed the Spatial is the increased physical demand of the Spatial design not anticipated with the NGOMSL analysis because of a design feature which caused a high level of cumbersomeness with the interactions. Overall, there were no statistical differences found between Method-TD and Method-BU, but a large difference found between the predicted times and observed times for Stacked, Radial, and Spatial. Participants overwhelmingly performed better than the predicted completion times for the Stacked design, but then did not complete the tasks by the predicted times for the Radial and Spatial. This study recommends the Stacked menu for VR environments and proposes further research into a Stacked-Spatial hybrid design to allow for the participant’s preferred design aspects of both designs to be used in a VR environment.

No / The article surveys virtual humans and techniques to control the face and body. It also covers higher level interfaces for direct speech input and issues of real-time control.

The rise in technology and reduced costs has led to more research on the use of Augmented Reality (AR). However, applications for AR Head Mounted Display (HMD) systems are still being defined. AR HMD systems have potential to help users interact and experience information in a way that could improve their performance. In the construction sector, workers use black and white construction level of detail drawings for assembly and inspection tasks. For this thesis, Microsoft HoloLens was used in an experiment to see the effects of AR models on user performance and comprehension. There were three conditions for this study, two of the conditions used AR model displays and the third condition used a traditional paper drawing of the model. This study measured participants' accuracy and comprehension of the model presented to them. The conclusion of this thesis is that using 3D AR models may improve participants' comprehension of construction drawings. / Master of Science

Network analysts have long used two-dimensional security visualizations to make sense of network data. As networks grow larger and more complex, two-dimensional visualizations become more convoluted, potentially compromising user situational awareness of cyber threats. To combat this problem, augmented reality (AR) can be employed to visualize data within a cyber-physical context to restore user perception and improve comprehension; thereby, enhancing cyber situational awareness. Multiple generations of prototypes, known collectively as Mobile Augmented Reality for Cyber Security, or MARCS, were developed to study the impact of AR on cyber situational awareness. First generation prototypes were subjected to a formative pilot study of 44 participants, to generate user-centric performance data and feedback, which motivated the design and development of second generation prototypes and provided initial insight into the potentially beneficial impact of AR on cyber situational awareness. Second generation prototypes were subjected to a summative secondary study by 50 participants, to compare the impact of AR and non-AR visualizations on cyber situational awareness. Results of the secondary study suggest that employing AR to visualize cyber threats in a cyber-physical context collectively improves user threat perception and comprehension, indicating that, in some cases, AR security visualizations improve user cyber situational awareness over non-AR security visualizations. / Master of Science

<p dir="ltr">This study talks about the use of Nanite in Unreal Engine 5.3 in a VR environment and evaluates its impact on scene performance and image quality. Through experimental studies, it was found that Nanite significantly reduced the number of triangles and draw calls for complex scenes. However, Nanite may have caused FPS drops and excessive GPU load, limiting its application areas. Additionally, as a prior condition for Nanite, disabling forward shading reduces performance even though it has positive impacts on graphic quality. The results show that Nanite may have potential in VR environments but requires further optimization to improve its performance. Future research should focus on new optimization methods and expand the use of Nanite in different fields while hardware technology improves.</p>

This essay explores Virginia Woolf's reality through her 1932 novel The Waves. In the novel, Woolf traces the lives of her six characters from childhood to adulthood. As children, the characters experience moments of revelation or what Woolf refers to as moments of being. These moments allow them to see "]some real thing behind appearances" (MB 71), a powerful reality underneath the surface of everyday life. From these moments the characters begin to shape and build their lives, always living in relation to the reality below. In the center of the novel, the characters come together for farewell dinner for their friend Percival. During the dinner party, the characters articulate their versions of the reality behind appearances. As they speak, they draw together the "severed parts" of reality in order to create a work of art (MB 71), a "globe" that encompasses all their versions of "some real thing" that gives their lives meaning (The Waves 145). / Master of Arts

Virtual Reality has once again emerged as a platform with great potential for exploratory research. An expectation for the next generation virtual reality platforms is to be used as a tool for graphical designers as a new way to access the virtual world and interact with digital content. Just as mobile applications are developed for smaller screens with touch capabilities and desktop applications for computer screens with the input of mouse and keyboard, the interfaces of VR applications need to be designed with the capabilities and limitations of the platform in mind. A common component in modern graphic editing software is layer management: having the final output of the application divided into sub-components. This thesis explores how layer management can best be implemented in room-scale Virtual Reality with a focus on selection, navigation and manipulation through an iterative design study. The study concludes that, to improve the learnability of a system, interactions should be based on real-world interaction for naturalistic tasks while drawing inspiration from desktop applications for more abstract tasks. Furthermore, the environment needs to be adjusted to the systems designated tasks as well as the physical characteristics of the user. Lastly, as previous studies have suggested, amplifying the movement of manipulated objects in relation to the movement of the controller decreases the required movement of the user, reducing fatigue and increasing the user’s reach. However, this amplification was perceived as a reduction in precision, which some users valued more than movement reduction. Therefore, the amplification factor should be adjusted in relation to the operation’s precision requirements. While directly applicable to layer management in VR, these findings could serve as guidelines for applications utilizing 2D content in a virtual environment, room-scale VR applications designed to perform abstract tasks, and productivity tools for Virtual Reality. / Virtual Reality (VR) har på senare år sett ett uppsving både vad gäller teknisk utveckling och intresse hos konsumenter. Den nya generationens VR-plattformar har stor potential för utforskande studier både vad gäller användningsområden och interaktionsgränssnitt. En av förväntningarna är att VR ska kunna användas inom grafisk formgivning som ett verktyg för att tillgå- och interagera med digitalt innehåll på nya sätt. Precis som mobila applikationer är utvecklade för mindre touch-skärmar och PC-applikationer är designade för mus- och tangentbordsinteraktion med återkoppling genom en datorskärm så kommer gränssnitten för framtidens VR applikationer att vara utformade efter denna plattforms specifikationer. En vanlig komponent i dagens grafiska redigeringsprogramvaror är bildlagerhantering; att ha en bild eller bildruta uppdelad i mindre delar där varje del kan redigeras och påverkas som en separat enhet. Denna uppsats utforskar genom en iterativ designstudie hur bildlagerhantering kan implementeras i en VR miljö med fokus på navigation, val av objekt och manipulation av objekt. Studien visar att interaktionsgränssnitten som baseras på interaktioner med verkligheten och interaktion med traditionella PC applikationer för naturliga respektive abstrakta operationer gör interaktionerna lättare att lära sig och förstå. Förutom de uppgifter som systemet är ämnat att utföra bör även utformningen av den virtuella miljön ta hänsyn till de fysiska egenskaperna hos användaren. Som tidigare studier har visat så kan ett förstärkt utslag av manipulerade objekt i förhållande till kontrollen minska den rörelse som krävs av användaren för att utföra en uppgift och därigenom minska trötthet och öka användarens effektiva räckvidd. Denna förstärkning uppfattades dock som en reducering av precision, vilket vissa användare värdesatte mer än reducering av krävd rörelse. Därför ska förstärkningsgraden sättas i relation till den precision som krävs av varje operation. Studiens resultat är direkt applicerbara för lagerhantering i VR men kan också användas som riktlinjer för VR applikationer som hanterar 2D-innehåll i en 3D miljö samt VR applikationer med syfte att användas som produktivitetsverktyg.

The need to be economically successful is the key driver for companies to be innovative and implement new technologies with increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Uncertainty about whether to use new technologies and missing knowledge about their advantages lead to staggering and withholding from fast diffusion of innovations. Focusing on the industry of logistics and the technology Mixed Reality, this research project developed a methodical approach for evaluating the fitness of an innovative technology and a specific process of application. A mixed methods approach was derived, based on interviews and experiments. The main methodologies used, were semi-structured interviews with decision makers in logistics companies to elaborate triggering criteria in the investment process and laboratory experiments for the evaluation of competing technologies. These methods were framed by an initial field experiment and feedback interviews after the analysis for the validation of the approach. The research proved the competitively viable applicability of Mixed Reality and its specific strengths and weaknesses in manual order picking. This set the foundation for possible further development and implementation of the technology. The developed methodological approach proved to be a valid and reliable assessment of the intersection between a technology and specified process of application. This can greatly enhance the speed of implementing new innovations and gaining competitive advantages for companies.

Reality TV is the most popular genre of television programming today. The number of reality television shows has grown exponentially over the last fifteen years since the premier of The Real World in 1992. Although reality TV uses styles similar to those used in documentary film, the “reality” of the shows is questioned by critics and viewers alike. The current study focuses on the “reality” that is presented to viewers and how that “reality” is created and may differ from what the participants of the shows experience. I appeared on two reality shows, Faking It and That's Clever, and learned a great deal as a participant observer. Within the study, I outline my experience and demonstrate how editing changed the reality I experienced into what was presented to the viewers. O'Connor's (1996) representation context web serves as a model for the realities created through reality television. People derive various benefits from watching reality TV. Besides the obvious entertainment value of reality TV, viewers also gather information via this type of programming. Viewers want to see real people on television reacting to unusual circumstances without the use of scripts. By surveying reality TV show viewers and participants, this study gives insight into how real the viewers believe the shows are and how authentic they actually are. If these shows are presented as reality, viewers are probably taking what they see as historical fact. The results of the study indicate more must be done so that the “reality” of reality TV does not misinform viewers.