Towards Cross Reality: A Comparison of World-in-Miniature and Virtual Reality Switch

Long Cheng^1,2, Damla Welti², Mathieu Lutfallah², Andreas Kunz²

Visualization of complex architectural and interior design proposals demands spatial comprehension. Mixed Reality (MR) has opened new ways for architectural visualization through its ability to overlay virtual models onto already existing real environments. However, this approach alone restricts users to the physical constraints of their surroundings. We developed two approaches to augment MR with additional perspectives from physically inaccessible viewpoints: the World-in-Miniature (WIM) solution and the Cross Reality (CR) solution. The WIM solution provides a scaled-down 3D replica of the virtual environment, whereas the CR solution enables users to switch to Virtual Reality and teleport to physically inaccessible viewpoints. Our research aims to explore whether one solution outperforms the other.

¹RhySearch, Forschung und Innovationzentrum Rheintal, Werdenbergstrasse 4, 9471 Buchs Switzerland
²Institute for Machine Tools and Manufacturing, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Clausiusstrasse 33, Zurich Switzerland

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