Natural interaction between multiple users within a shared virtual environment (VE) relies on each other's awareness of the current position of the interaction partners. This, however, cannot be warranted when users employ noncontinuous locomotion techniques, such as teleportation, which may cause confusion among bystanders. In this paper, we pursue two approaches to create a pleasant experience for both the moving user and the bystanders observing that movement. First, we will introduce a Smart Avatar system that delivers continuous full-body human representations for noncontinuous locomotion in shared virtual reality (VR) spaces. Smart Avatars imitate their assigned user's real-world movements when close-by and autonomously navigate to their user when the distance between them exceeds a certain threshold, i.e., after the user teleports. As part of the Smart Avatar system, we implemented four avatar transition techniques and compared them to conventional avatar locomotion in a user study, revealing significant positive effects on the observer's spatial awareness, as well as pragmatic and hedonic quality scores. Second, we introduce the concept of Stuttered Locomotion, which can be applied to any continuous locomotion method. By converting a continuous movement into short-interval teleport steps, we provide the merits of non-continuous locomotion for the moving user while observers can easily keep track of their path. Thus, while the experience for observers is similarly positive as with continuous motion, a user study confirmed that Stuttered Locomotion can significantly reduce the occurrence of cybersickness symptoms for the moving user, making it an attractive choice for shared VEs. We will discuss the potential of Smart Avatars and Stuttered Locomotion for shared VR experiences, both when applied individually and in combination.

翻译：多用户在共享虚拟环境（VE）中的自然交互依赖于彼此对交互对象当前位置的感知。然而，当用户采用非连续移动技术（如瞬移）时，这种感知可能无法得到保证，从而引发旁观者的困惑。本文提出两种方法，旨在为移动用户和观察该移动的旁观者创造愉悦体验。首先，我们提出智能化身系统（Smart Avatar），该系统在共享虚拟现实（VR）空间中为不连续移动提供连续的全身人体表征。当用户位置相近时，智能化身模仿其指定用户在现实世界中的移动；当用户与其距离超过特定阈值（例如用户瞬移后）时，化身将自主导航至用户所在位置。作为智能化身系统的一部分，我们实现了四种化身过渡技术，并在用户研究中将其与传统化身移动进行比较，结果显示该方法在观察者的空间意识、实用质量及享乐质量评分方面具有显著正向效果。其次，我们提出“断续移动”（Stuttered Locomotion）概念，该概念可应用于任何连续移动方法。通过将连续移动转换为短间隔瞬移步骤，我们既为移动用户提供了非连续移动的优势，又使观察者能够轻松追踪其路径轨迹。因此，当观察者的体验与连续移动同样积极时，用户研究证实断续移动可显著降低移动用户的晕动症症状发生率，使其成为共享虚拟环境的理想选择。我们将分别探讨智能化身与断续移动在共享VR体验中的应用潜力，以及两者组合使用的效果。