Effects of Luminance Contrast on Depth Perception in Optical See-Through Augmented Reality

Augmented reality (AR) technology presents the rendered virtual object in the real world whose depth cues can assist the depth estimation of the virtual object. For many AR applications, the successful interaction between the real world and the virtual object relies on the accuracy of depth perception. In the past, the research of depth perception in AR mainly focused on the impact of virtual object properties, including the size, color, and shading model. In this study, an experiment has been conducted to investigate the influence of ambient luminance, virtual object luminance, and shading model which is a luminance-related parameter on depth perception using an optical see-through head-mounted display. Results show that a higher luminance contrast between the real scene and the virtual object leads to a lower accuracy of depth perception in AR.