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Dr. Tim Weißker
Room K109
Phone: +49 241 80 29106
Fax: +49 241 80 22134
Email: Weissker@vr.rwth-aachen.de

Virtual Reality Team

Tim Weißker joined the Virtual Reality Team as a postdoctoral researcher in 2022. Before, he worked as a research assistant with the Virtual Reality and Visualization Research Group at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, where he also completed his doctoral research on "Group Navigation in Multi-User Virtual Reality" in 2021. His research interests include the design of 3D interaction techniques, the study of collaborative work among collocated and remote user groups, and the evaluation of user performance and comfort in virtual environments.


personal website icon ORCID iD icon ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0001-9119-811X
https://www.tim-weissker.de


Education
  • Doctor rerum naturalium, Virtual Reality and Visualization Research Group, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, December 2021
  • Master of Science, Computer Science and Media, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, May 2017
  • Bachelor of Science, Medieninformatik, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, October 2014


Publications


On the Computation of User Placements for Virtual Formation Adjustments during Group Navigation


Tim Weissker, Matthis Franzgrote, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen, Tim Gerrits
2024 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW)
pubimg

Several group navigation techniques enable a single navigator to control travel for all group members simultaneously in social virtual reality. A key aspect of this process is the ability to rearrange the group into a new formation to facilitate the joint observation of the scene or to avoid obstacles on the way. However, the question of how users should be distributed within the new formation to create an intuitive transition that minimizes disruptions of ongoing social activities is currently not explored. In this paper, we begin to close this gap by introducing four user placement strategies based on mathematical considerations, discussing their benefits and drawbacks, and sketching further novel ideas to approach this topic from different angles in future work. Our work, therefore, contributes to the overarching goal of making group interactions in social virtual reality more intuitive and comfortable for the involved users.




Try This for Size: Multi-Scale Teleportation in Immersive Virtual Reality


Tim Weissker, Matthis Franzgrote, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen
2024 IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
pubimg

The ability of a user to adjust their own scale while traveling through virtual environments enables them to inspect tiny features being ant-sized and to gain an overview of the surroundings as a giant. While prior work has almost exclusively focused on steering-based interfaces for multi-scale travel, we present three novel teleportation-based techniques that avoid continuous motion flow to reduce the risk of cybersickness. Our approaches build on the extension of known teleportation workflows and suggest specifying scale adjustments either simultaneously with, as a connected second step after, or separately from the user’s new horizontal position. The results of a two-part user study with 30 participants indicate that the simultaneous and connected specification paradigms are both suitable candidates for effective and comfortable multi-scale teleportation with nuanced individual benefits. Scale specification as a separate mode, on the other hand, was considered less beneficial. We compare our findings to prior research and publish the executable of our user study to facilitate replication and further analyses.




TENETvr: Comprehensible Temporal Teleportation in Time-Varying Virtual Environments


Daniel Rupp, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen, Tim Weissker
IEEE 2023
pubimg

The iterative design process of virtual environments commonly generates a history of revisions that each represent the state of the scene at a different point in time. Browsing through these discrete time points by common temporal navigation interfaces like time sliders, however, can be inaccurate and lead to an uncomfortably high number of visual changes in a short time. In this paper, we therefore present a novel technique called TENETvr (Temporal Exploration and Navigation in virtual Environments via Teleportation) that allows for efficient teleportation-based travel to time points in which a particular object of interest changed. Unlike previous systems, we suggest that changes affecting other objects in the same time span should also be mediated before the teleport to improve predictability. We therefore propose visualizations for nine different types of additions, property changes, and deletions. In a formal user study with 20 participants, we confirmed that this addition leads to significantly more efficient change detection, lower task loads, and higher usability ratings, therefore reducing temporal disorientation.

» Show BibTeX

@INPROCEEDINGS{10316438,
author={Rupp, Daniel and Kuhlen, Torsten and Weissker, Tim},
booktitle={2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR)},
title={{TENETvr: Comprehensible Temporal Teleportation in Time-Varying Virtual Environments}},
year={2023},
volume={},
number={},
pages={922-929},
doi={10.1109/ISMAR59233.2023.00108}}





Who Did What When? Discovering Complex Historical Interrelations in Immersive Virtual Reality


Melanie Derksen, Julia Becker, Mohammad Fazleh Elahi, Angelika Maier, Marius Maile, Ingo Pätzold, Joans Penningroth, Bettina Reglin, Markus Rothgänger, Philipp Cimiano, Erich Schubert, Silke Schwandt, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen, Mario Botsch, Tim Weissker
Konferenz: 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality
pubimg

Traditional digital tools for exploring historical data mostly rely on conventional 2D visualizations, which often cannot reveal all relevant interrelationships between historical fragments (e.g., persons or events). In this paper, we present a novel interactive exploration tool for historical data in VR, which represents fragments as spheres in a 3D environment and arranges them around the user based on their temporal, geo, categorical and semantic similarity. Quantitative and qualitative results from a user study with 29 participants revealed that most participants considered the virtual space and the abstract fragment representation well-suited to explore historical data and to discover complex interrelationships. These results were particularly underlined by high usability scores in terms of attractiveness, stimulation, and novelty, while researching historical facts with our system did not impose unexpectedly high task loads. Additionally, the insights from our post-study interviews provided valuable suggestions for future developments to further expand the possibilities of our system.

» Show BibTeX

@INPROCEEDINGS{10316480,
author={Derksen, Melanie and Becker, Julia and Elahi, Mohammad Fazleh and Maier, Angelika and Maile, Marius and Pätzold, Ingo and Penningroth, Jonas and Reglin, Bettina and Rothgänger, Markus and Cimiano, Philipp and Schubert, Erich and Schwandt, Silke and Kuhlen, Torsten and Botsch, Mario and Weissker, Tim},
booktitle={2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR)},
title={{Who Did What When? Discovering Complex Historical Interrelations in Immersive Virtual Reality}},
year={2023},
volume={},
number={},
pages={129-137},
doi={10.1109/ISMAR59233.2023.00027}}





Stay Vigilant: The Threat of a Replication Crisis in VR Locomotion Research


Daniel Zielasko, Tim Weissker
Proceedings of 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST) 2023
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The ability to reproduce previously published research findings is an important cornerstone of the scientific knowledge acquisition process. However, the exact details required to reproduce empirical experiments vary depending on the discipline. In this paper, we summarize key replication challenges as well as their specific consequences for VR locomotion research. We then present the results of a literature review on artificial locomotion techniques, in which we analyzed 61 papers published in the last five years with respect to their report of essential details required for reproduction. Our results indicate several issues in terms of the description of the experimental setup, the scientific rigor of the research process, and the generalizability of results, which altogether points towards a potential replication crisis in VR locomotion research. As a countermeasure, we provide guidelines to assist researchers with reporting future artificial locomotion experiments in a reproducible form.

Best Paper Award!

» Show BibTeX

@inproceedings{10.1145/3611659.3615697,
author = {Zielasko, Daniel and Weissker, Tim},
title = {Stay Vigilant: The Threat of a Replication Crisis in VR Locomotion Research},
year = {2023},
isbn = {9798400703287},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3611659.3615697},
doi = {10.1145/3611659.3615697},
abstract = {The ability to reproduce previously published research findings is an important cornerstone of the scientific knowledge acquisition process. However, the exact details required to reproduce empirical experiments vary depending on the discipline. In this paper, we summarize key replication challenges as well as their specific consequences for VR locomotion research. We then present the results of a literature review on artificial locomotion techniques, in which we analyzed 61 papers published in the last five years with respect to their report of essential details required for reproduction. Our results indicate several issues in terms of the description of the experimental setup, the scientific rigor of the research process, and the generalizability of results, which altogether points towards a potential replication crisis in VR locomotion research. As a countermeasure, we provide guidelines to assist researchers with reporting future artificial locomotion experiments in a reproducible form.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology},
articleno = {39},
numpages = {10},
keywords = {Reproducibility, Virtual Reality, Replication Crisis, Teleportation, Locomotion, Steering},
location = {Christchurch, New Zealand},
series = {VRST '23}
}





DasherVR: Evaluating a Predictive Text Entry System in Immersive Virtual Reality


Sebastian Pape, Jan Jakub Ackermann, Tim Weissker, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen
Towards an Inclusive and Accessible Metaverse Workshop at CHI'23
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Inputting text fluently in virtual reality is a topic still under active research, since many previously presented solutions have drawbacks in either speed, error rate, privacy or accessibility. To address these drawbacks, in this paper we adapted the predictive text entry system "Dasher" into an immersive virtual environment. Our evaluation with 20 participants shows that Dasher offers a good user experience with input speeds similar to other virtual text input techniques in the literature while maintaining low error rates. In combination with positive user feedback, we therefore believe that DasherVR is a promising basis for further research on accessible text input in immersive virtual reality.

» Show Videos
» Show BibTeX

@inproceedings{pape2023,
title = {{{DasherVR}}: {{Evaluating}} a {{Predictive Text Entry System}} in {{Immersive Virtual Reality}}},
booktitle = {Towards an {{Inclusive}} and {{Accessible Metaverse}} at {{CHI}}'23},
author = {Pape, Sebastian and Ackermann, Jan Jakub and Weissker, Tim and Kuhlen, Torsten W},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.18154/RWTH-2023-05093},
year = {2023}
}





Enhanced Auditoriums for Attending Talks in Social Virtual Reality


Tim Weissker, Leander Pieters, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen
Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’23)
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Replicating traditional auditorium layouts for attending talks in social virtual reality often results in poor visibility of the presentation and a reduced feeling of being there together with others. Motivated by the use case of academic conferences, we therefore propose to display miniature representations of the stage close to the viewers for enhanced presentation visibility as well as group table arrangements for enhanced social co-watching. We conducted an initial user study with 12 participants in groups of three to evaluate the influence of these ideas on audience experience. Our results confirm the hypothesized positive effects of both enhancements and show that their combination was particularly appreciated by audience members. Our results therefore strongly encourage us to rethink conventional auditorium layouts in social virtual reality.

» Show BibTeX

@inproceedings{10.1145/3544549.3585718,
author = {Weissker, Tim and Pieters, Leander and Kuhlen, Torsten},
title = {Enhanced Auditoriums for Attending Talks in Social Virtual Reality},
year = {2023},
isbn = {9781450394222},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3585718},
doi = {10.1145/3544549.3585718},
abstract = {Replicating traditional auditorium layouts for attending talks in social virtual reality often results in poor visibility of the presentation and a reduced feeling of being there together with others. Motivated by the use case of academic conferences, we therefore propose to display miniature representations of the stage close to the viewers for enhanced presentation visibility as well as group table arrangements for enhanced social co-watching. We conducted an initial user study with 12 participants in groups of three to evaluate the influence of these ideas on audience experience. Our results confirm the hypothesized positive effects of both enhancements and show that their combination was particularly appreciated by audience members. Our results therefore strongly encourage us to rethink conventional auditorium layouts in social virtual reality.},
booktitle = {Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
articleno = {101},
numpages = {7},
keywords = {Audience Experience, Head-Mounted Display, Multi-User, Social Interaction, Virtual Presentations, Virtual Reality},
location = {<conf-loc>, <city>Hamburg</city>, <country>Germany</country>, </conf-loc>},
series = {CHI EA '23}
}





Towards Discovering Meaningful Historical Relationships in Virtual Reality


Melanie Derksen, Tim Weissker, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen, Mario Botsch
2023 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW)
pubimg

Traditional digital tools for exploring historical data mostly rely on conventional 2D visualizations, which often cannot reveal all relevant interrelationships between historical fragments. We are working on a novel interactive exploration tool for historical data in virtual reality, which arranges fragments in a 3D environment based on their temporal, spatial and categorical proximity to a reference fragment. In this poster, we report on an initial expert review of our approach, giving us valuable insights into the use cases and requirements that inform our further developments.

» Show BibTeX

@INPROCEEDINGS{Derksen2023,
author={Derksen, Melanie and Weissker, Tim and Kuhlen, Torsten and Botsch, Mario},
booktitle={2023 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW)},
title={Towards Discovering Meaningful Historical Relationships in Virtual Reality},
year={2023},
volume={},
number={},
pages={697-698},
doi={10.1109/VRW58643.2023.00191}}





Gaining the High Ground: Teleportation to Mid-Air Targets in Immersive Virtual Environments


Tim Weissker, Pauline Bimberg, Aalok Shashidhar Gokhale, Torsten Wolfgang Kuhlen, Bernd Fröhlich
2023 IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
pubimg

Most prior teleportation techniques in virtual reality are bound to target positions in the vicinity of selectable scene objects. In this paper, we present three adaptations of the classic teleportation metaphor that enable the user to travel to mid-air targets as well. Inspired by related work on the combination of teleports with virtual rotations, our three techniques differ in the extent to which elevation changes are integrated into the conventional target selection process. Elevation can be specified either simultaneously, as a connected second step, or separately from horizontal movements. A user study with 30 participants indicated a trade-off between the simultaneous method leading to the highest accuracy and the two-step method inducing the lowest task load as well as receiving the highest usability ratings. The separate method was least suitable on its own but could serve as a complement to one of the other approaches. Based on these findings and previous research, we define initial design guidelines for mid-air navigation techniques.

» Show BibTeX

@ARTICLE{10049698,
author={Weissker, Tim and Bimberg, Pauline and Gokhale, Aalok Shashidhar and Kuhlen, Torsten and Froehlich, Bernd},
journal={IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics},
title={Gaining the High Ground: Teleportation to Mid-Air Targets in Immersive Virtual Environments},
year={2023},
volume={29},
number={5},
pages={2467-2477},
keywords={Teleportation;Navigation;Avatars;Visualization;Task analysis;Floors;Virtual environments;Virtual Reality;3D User Interfaces;3D Navigation;Head-Mounted Display;Teleportation;Flying;Mid-Air Navigation},
doi={10.1109/TVCG.2023.3247114}}





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