Abstract:

3D applications, along with 3D visualization technologies such as virtual reality, are a powerful tool that engineering professionals can use in their projects. Virtual reality allows the 3D representation of an engineering project in all its details, facilitating the superposition of different structures or installations that the engineer can view simultaneously while navigating into the virtual 3D environment. Facilitating the understanding of three-dimensional space helps to optimize the different phases of development of an engineering project. This is a great advantage for decision-making, compared to traditional 2D plan and elevation representations, in which the engineer needs to abstract from 2D information to interpret a three-dimensional reality.

In the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field, 3D virtual reality technologies are gaining more and more prominence within the curricula of engineering and architecture degrees. In a project developed using virtual reality, the user navigates through a virtual 3D reality environment being able to appreciate details, views from different points and perspectives. Navigation tasks are, therefore, one of the most frequent tasks to perform when viewing an engineering project in a 3D virtual reality environment. It is important, therefore, not only that students learn to handle 3D applications and visualization tools, but also to know their user perception of the 3D environment while navigating, since navigation is going to be one of the main tasks to be carried out.

This research shows the results of a workshop developed in a 3D VR environment with performed with Unity 3D Game Engine, in which engineering students performed different navigation tasks using virtual reality glasses (HMD, Head Mounted Displays). At the end of the workshop, the students responded to a 10-point Likert Scale questionnaire to find out their perception of that 3D environment.

The virtual environment created can also be used in VR Desktop environments, that is, an environment that only needs a computer, a keyboard and a mouse. This constitutes an alternative in restricted environments for health reasons such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic, in which the exchange of virtual reality glasses among students might not be possible. An FPS (First Person Controller) was inserted both for VR Desktop environments and to work with HMD devices. Objects that respond to collisions and that can be opened and closed, such as entrance doors, were selected.

The perception of the participants during navigation in the 3D environment was analyzed through the Questionnaire on User eXperience in Immersive Virtual Environments (QUXiVE). ISO 9241-210 norm defines as User Experience (UX): “The user’s perceptions and responses resulting from the use of a system or a service”

The Questionnaire on User eXperience in Immersive Virtual Environments is a standardized and validated questionnaire. It is made up of a selection of items from different existing standardized tests. The authors of this questionnaire indicate that it should be adapted to each research practice. In this way, a selection of the questionnaire items related to the virtual environment created and the navigation tasks carried out within that environment has been made, in order to provide feedback on the user experience.

Keywords:

Virtual Reality, navigation, perception, user experience, game engine, STEM.