A Sensitivity Study of Factors Influencing Real-Virtual Object Alignment Performance in Stereoscopic Augmented Reality Environments

A sensitivity study involving a real-virtual object alignment task was performed in a stereoscopic augmented reality environment, in which the known conflict between binocular fusion and object interposition cues was expected to play a major role. The object was to evaluate subjects’ sensitivity to visual texture of a real hemisphere surface and to target position at designated probe points on that surface. Consistent with earlier experiments, the results indicate that: a) both surface texture and target position had significant effects both on real-virtual object alignment and on the estimate of surface normal direction; b) fusion breakdown caused by the conflict between occlusion and binocular disparity could have been used as an extra depth cue to detect virtual and real object interactions. In addition, a practical solution to improving remote 3D measurement accuracy is proposed.