Determining the Effect of Object-Based Foveated Rendering on the Quality of Simulated Reality

Rendering virtual environments for simulated reality applications often proves to be a challenge due to the high demands of simulations capable of imparting enough detail to appease the human eye. Traditional simulated environments typically require hardware capable of providing enormous graphical processing power in order to render entire scenes in high detail, limiting simulations to high end computers. However, most of this detail is wasted, as human eyes are only capable of perceiving detailed information in a small central field of view. In the peripheral regions of human vision, the majority of the final image that is seen by the human is filled in by the brain, based on context and the minimal detail provided by the eyes. This three-phase research effort attempts to identify whether reducing the level of detail of objects in the peripherals of a virtual reality simulation affects the perceived quality of the simulation.