The benefits of eye tracking in VRĪs the rendering of complete virtual environments is a computationally expensive process, there is an imperative to find ways to reduce this burden, so that that processing power can be spent in other ways (e.g. Not all VR environments necessarily have this information, which precludes accurate tracking in those scenarios, but for those that do, eye tracking can be carried out. By combining information about the depth of the virtual objects in the VR environment it’s possible to construct a model of what was looked at – a virtual line can be traced from the direction of the eyes into the virtual world.
įortunately, while the position of the eyes doesn’t tell the whole story, we do have the missing data. VR eye tracking must therefore contend with the incomplete gaze information. In VR, the display is placed so close in front of the eyes that the eyes don’t necessarily display vergence, but there is still of course a perception of depth due to the 3D information presented. In an everyday setting, if a line could be drawn from the center of each eye, both would meet the same junction – the object that the person was looking at. In the real world, the eyes display what is called “vergence” – where the angle of the eyes are directed towards a central point at which the gaze meets (see the figure below). The principle is the same in VR, with one crucial difference – the eyes don’t necessarily point to where the person is looking. Computer vision algorithms are able to deduce from the angle of the eyes where the gaze is directed. An infrared light, invisible to the human eye, creates this reflection while cameras record and track the movements. How does VR eye tracking work?Įye tracking typically works by continuously measuring the distance between the pupil center and the reflection of the cornea – the distance changes dependent on the angle of the eye. Below, we will introduce eye tracking in VR, and explain how it’s different to eye tracking in the real world, and walk through how it even can improve the virtual experience itself. This is where eye tracking in VR comes in. If you want to test the attention of (for example) pilots while they experience a new flight simulation, you’ll need information about where they’re looking. While the possibilities for testing have increased, technology has also been needed to keep up. It’s possible to simulate anything in VR.
Testing scenarios need no longer be bound by factors that would normally prevent certain experiments taking place – time, safety, budget (or even: the laws of physics). Virtual reality has created the possibility to experience worlds that have not, or cannot exist. This capability substantially increases the scope of experimental settings for researchers.