User-centered interior finishing material selection: An immersive virtual reality-based interactive approach

Interior finishing material selection is crucial in creating a desirable living environment. However, the evaluation criteria in the current approach to interior finishing material selection are limited to quantitative indicators such as material energy performance and life expectancy. Qualitative requirements such as visual-aesthetics preference, on the other hand, are overlooked. In this regard, this research proposes a novel immersive virtual reality (IVR)-based approach for user-centered interior finishing material selection which incorporates both visual aesthetics and conventional material performance. Conventional material performance is factored into a multi-criteria decision making analysis to determine finishing material type. On this basis, final material products are selected by interactively evaluating homeowner's visual-aesthetics preference during interactive particle swarm optimization algorithm (IPSO)-based material collocation optimization. Here a prototype system is developed within a game engine environment, Unity 3D, and implemented in the form of a head-mounted display device, HTC Vive, in order to provide an interactive and immersive user experience. A typical two-storey residential townhouse is used as a case study to test the developed prototype system. The test results show the proposed approach to be capable of effectively assisting users in selecting their desired interior finishing materials.