Effects of dynamic environment mapping in mobile augmented reality on material perception

Augmented Reality has caught the attention of people significantly since its rise in popularity. The possibility to view a scene with extra information while maintaining realism is an outstanding aspect of Augmented Reality. However, preserving realism while augmenting a scene presents a considerable challenge to overcome. Reflections, lighting, and shading are a few of the areas where care needs to be taken for augmentations, otherwise, they can look unrealistic and they can significantly ruin the experience. In order to improve realism, one area that can be worked on is more realistic shading and reflections which also helps a better material perception. As a way to solve the possible problems with reflections and material perception in Augmented Reality, we present a dynamic environment mapping method for use with common mobile devices with front and back-facing cameras. We also conduct a comprehensive user experiment to assess the effect of the proposed method on the realism and the perception of surface materials using a carefully selected variety of environment maps and materials. We also investigate the effect of consistency of the environment map with regards to the real environment. Our findings reveal that incorporating dynamic environment maps enhances perceived realism and elevates the perception of surface glossiness. This suggests significant potential, particularly for enhancing the presentation of specular surfaces within mobile Augmented Reality environments.