The depth object exploring non-naturalistic spatial composition in virtual reality
Creators: name: Andrews, Stephanie
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 330310
subject: Interaction and experience design
classificationCode: 360503
subject: Digital and electronic media art
classificationCode: 360504
subject: Interactive media
classificationCode: 460702
subject: Computer graphics

description: My practice-based research project develops and demonstrates artistic strategies for the composition of non-naturalistic visual depth in stereoscopic virtual reality (VR). I accomplish this through a series of creative experiments and VR experiences. Each work is rendered in real time and experienced using head-mounted display technology and six degrees of freedom head tracking. Through these works I challenge the viewers binocular depth perception by altering the spatial depiction of the three-dimensional virtual environment. 

Stereoscopic imagery has traditionally been bound to the rectangular frame of the cinematic screen format. This framing is known as the stereo window and has historically been a limiting compositional problem in 3D cinema. When the 3D image intersects with the edge of the frame, the illusion of depth collapses. More recently, head-mounted displays place the proximity of the viewers eyes closer to the display, effectively eliminating the rectangular framing of the screen from view, along with all visual reference to the outside world. The positional head tracking allows the user to interactively control their viewpoint in the 360-degree stereoscopic phenomenon that surrounds them. Subjectively, VR offers the illusion that the user can enter and inhabit a stereoscopic virtual environment. It usually employs a strategy of normative depth emulation that seeks to maximise immersion and a sense of presence. In contrast, I approach the composition of stereoscopic virtual environments as a layered meta-composition of multiple realities coexisting simultaneously. 

Working at the intersection of stereoscopic media, virtual reality, and non-naturalistic spatial representation in the visual arts, my research is motivated by the following question: What does stereoscopic VR offer in terms of unique spatial depth strategies and how can it be used to create experiences of simultaneity and multiplicity? I address this question using a reflective practitioner methodology involving rapid prototyping of ideas, critical self-reflection, and iterative development. Specifically, I re-examine traditional cinematic practices of stereoscopic image construction to expand the possibilities of depth composition in VR. 

Through my practice I develop an artistic strategy I call the depth object. A depth object transforms the stereo window from a default rectangle into a 3D object that appears within a 360-degree virtual environment. This introduces the potential for more complex silhouettes forframing. The depth objects rendered in the scene both occlude and reveal through the renderingof multiple layers simultaneously. These overlapping 3D objects provide layers of viewing portalsto other virtual environments. Depth objects are designed to confound our normative experienceof near and far by weaving together new spatial relationships. The depth object approach to 3D composition subverts the natural order of vision and presents the audience with a surprising and different way of viewing space.

My practice is informed by its historical and material context, as well as by contemporary practitioners and theorists who work in the field of 3D illusions and VR. I draw on the theories of hyper-haptic stereoscopic space from Miriam Ross, multiple presence theory in VR from Jacquelyn Morie, and the influence of non-Euclidean geometries in modern visual arts as documented by Linda Dalrymple Henderson. My practice is also informed by stereoscopic film directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Monroe Ferguson, experimental VR artists Julieta Aguilera and Marcos Novak, and stereoscopic choreographers such as Megan Beckwith, Kim Vincs, and Heather Raikes. 

My original contribution consists of the development and presentation of three experimental artistic works: Shapeshifter, Ghost Forest, and Shards, along with the depth object artistic strategy that has emerged through this research. My research is situated in the field of experimental digital art and is relevant to VR art and design practice. It has potential future application in interactive artworks, game design, narrative experience, and virtual architectures