# SelectVisAR: Selective Visualisation of Virtual Environments in Augmented Reality

**Authors:** Robbe Cools, Jihae Han, Adalberto L. Simeone  
**arXiv:** [2104.08579](https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.08579)  
**Date:** 2021-04-17  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/arxiv-id/2104.08579v2/

## Key points

- The paper explores establishing a visual connection between VR and AR users
- SelectVisAR is proposed as a selective visualization system for virtual environments in AR
- Four distinct visualization conditions: Interactive, Proximity, Everything, and Dollhouse
- Follow-up study with two additional conditions: Context and Spotlight
- SelectVisAR selectively visualizes relevant parts of the virtual environment for the interactive possibilities of the VR user
- Study results show that Spotlight ranked significantly lower than other techniques, while Dollhouse was also ranked significantly lower than Everything
- Context was ranked highly by participants, suggesting some visualization techniques may not be preferred by AR users when observing VR users
- SelectVisAR is introduced as a solution for selective visualization in AR environments when connecting with VR users
- Importance of considering the information needs of AR users in mixed reality scenarios.

## Summary

The paper titled "SelectVisAR: Selective Visualisation of Virtual Environments in Augmented Reality" by Robbe Cools, Jihae Han, and Adalberto L. Simeone explores the concept of establishing a visual connection between virtual reality (VR) users and augmented reality (AR) users. To address the issue of information overload faced by AR users compared to VR users, the authors propose SelectVisAR - a selective visualization system for virtual environments in AR. This system allows an AR spectator to perceive a co-located VR user in four distinct visualization conditions: Interactive, Proximity, Everything, and Dollhouse. Additionally, they conduct a follow-up study exploring two additional conditions: Context and Spotlight. The design of SelectVisAR adopts a human-centric approach to information filtering by selectively visualizing only parts of the virtual environment that are relevant to the interactive possibilities of the VR user. The research aims to investigate how selective visualizations can be beneficial or trivial for AR users when observing VR users. In the follow-up study with 13 participants with low self-reported experience in VR and AR, results showed that Spotlight ranked significantly lower than other techniques while Dollhouse was also ranked significantly lower than Everything. Context was ranked highly by participants suggesting that some visualization techniques may not be preferred by AR users when observing VR users. In conclusion, this paper introduces SelectVisAR as a solution for selective visualization in AR environments when connecting with VR users. The research provides insights into which visualization conditions are preferred by AR spectators and highlights the importance of considering the information needs of AR users in mixed reality scenarios.