“Between Feathers & Footprints: A Dual Perspective Embodied VR Experience” by Feng and Lao
Conference:
Experience Type(s):
Title:
- Between Feathers & Footprints: A Dual Perspective Embodied VR Experience
Presenter(s):
Description:
Between Feathers & Footprints is an immersive VR experience that allows players to seamlessly shift between human and bird forms, exploring the world through contrasting embodiments. We leverage physics-driven flight and altered vision to enhance embodiment as a bird. During several mini-games, players can experience the world as a bird, foraging for fruits and gems with heightened vision and elevation. Transforming into human form, they engage with the environment from a grounded perspective, relying more on dexterity and stability. This interplay between perspectives highlights how different forms shape perception and creative problem-solving, exploring VR as an avenue for embodiment and empathy across species.
References:
[1] Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Joshua Bostick, Elise Ogle, Kristine L. Nowak, Kara T. McGillicuddy, and Jeremy N. Bailenson. 2016. Experiencing Nature: Embodying Animals in Immersive Virtual Environments Increases Inclusion of Nature in Self and Involvement with Nature. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 21, 6 (09 2016), 399–419. arXiv:https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article-pdf/21/6/399/19946792/jjcmcom0399.pdf
[2] Max Rheiner. 2014. Birdly an attempt to fly. In ACM SIGGRAPH 2014 Emerging Technologies (Vancouver, Canada) (SIGGRAPH ’14). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 3, 1 pages.
[3] Tamás Varga. 2020. How Birds See The World As Compared to Humans. https://earthlymission.com/human-vision-vs-bird-vision/
[4] Ziqi Wang, Mengyao Guo, Yikun Fang, Kexin Nie, Hanbing Wang, Xingzhi Shi, Yifan Li, and Ze Gao. 2024. Wings of Imagination: Strengthening Avian Embodiment and Flight Immersion in Virtual Reality Through Multisensory Haptic Feedback. In International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. Springer, 411–432.
[5] Jia-chi Wu and Zoran Popović. 2003. Realistic modeling of bird flight animations. ACM Trans. Graph. 22, 3 (July 2003), 888–895.
