Do materials matter? How surface representation affects presence in virtual environments

This article reports the impact of different visual realism of materials applied to objects on perceived presence during an assembly task. The results of the experiment show that there is a significant difference between the more realistic scene and one where the surfaces of objects have been replaced with simpler, CAD-inspired visualizations. Despite these difference, both scenarios reach high values for presence and acceptance. Therefore, less detailed and less realistic rendering of surfaces might be sufficient to obtain a high presence and acceptance level in scenarios, which focus on manual tasks, if the associated drop in presence can be tolerated.