Abstract: This research investigates techniques of urban environment visualization using computer graphics, and the effectiveness of this medium as an evaluative tool for streetscape simulations from a human/environment perspective. In this field, single static pictures and successive static pictures taken at regular intervals are the typical method by which townscape simulations are evaluated. However, by tracking eye movements, we found considerable difference in the visual processes when subjects looked at a still image compared to a motion picture. In a moving environment, visual attention tends to focus on a more limited area which is consistent with the sequential view and continuously reorients itself with the direction of movement. When viewing static images, because the field of vision is not limited by motion, visual attention is dispersed over the whole picture. This gives evidence that perceptions of single static and successive static pictures as sequential environment are different from perceptions of motion pictures which are much closer to real sequential environment.
Keywords: streetscape simulation, CG animation, visual perception, eye movement
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