Does It Look Real? Visual Realism Complexity Scale for 3D Objects in VR

The visual realism classification scale (VRCS) is a tool to help researchers judge, compare, and describe the visual realism of objects in virtual environments. In Human-Computer Interaction, visual realism is a much-investigated topic, as different tasks benefit from a particular level of detail. The subjective feeling of realism becomes more tangible by judging 3D objects based on the objective criteria: lighting, reflection, texture, structure, form, and internal consistency. This paper revises the original VRCS using statistical analysis and an expert focus group. The adopted changes are evaluated through a complementary user study of 34 participants, which resulted in high validity due to a significant correlation between the subjective measure and VRCS. Furthermore, the scale significantly predicts subjective realism and improves the inter-rater reliability on multiple questions. Using the focus group and user study results, this paper offers guidance on applying the VRCS in research.