An immersive virtual environment (IVE) modeling and simulation tool is being developed for designing advanced weapon and training systems. One unique feature of the tool is that the design, and not just visualization of the design, is accomplished with the IVE tool. Acceptance of IVE tools requires comparisons with current commercial applications. In this pilot study, expert users of a popular desktop 3D graphics application performed identical modeling and simulation tasks using both the desktop and IVE applications. The IVK tool consisted of a head-mounted display, 3D spatialized sound, spatial trackers on head and hands, instrumented gloves, and a simulated speech recognition system. The results arc preliminary because performance from only four users has been examined. When using the IVE system, users completed the tasks to criteria in less time than when using the desktop application. Subjective ratings of the visual displays in each system were similar. Ratings for the desktop controls were higher thnn for the IVE controls. Ratings of immersion and user enjoyment were higher for the IVE than for the desktop application. These results are particularly remarkable because participants had used the desktop application regularly for three to five years and the prototype IVE tool for only three to six hours.
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