To Slide or Not to Slide: Exploring Techniques for Comparing Immersive Videos

2026-02-22

AI Summary

This study addresses the high cognitive load and lack of efficient interaction methods in comparative tasks involving immersive videos, which distribute information across multiple directions. To tackle this challenge, the work introduces— for the first time—the “swiping” mechanism into immersive video comparison, proposing five interaction techniques, including SlideInVR and SlideIn2D, that integrate switching and side-by-side strategies for both VR and 2D environments. A controlled user study (N=20) demonstrates that the SlideIn family of techniques significantly outperforms conventional approaches in terms of flexibility and user preference. These findings substantiate that the swiping paradigm effectively enhances the efficiency of comparative analysis in immersive video contexts.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Computer Vision: Image and Video Retrieval
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Robustness and generalizability of Web mining methods

Abstract

Immersive videos (IVs) provide 360° environments that create a strong sense of presence and spatial exploration. Unlike traditional videos, IVs distribute information across multiple directions, making comparison cognitively demanding and highly dependent on interaction techniques. With the growing adoption of IVs, effective comparison techniques have become an essential yet underexplored area of research. Inspired by the "sliding" concept in 2D media comparison, we integrate two established comparison strategies from the literature--toggle and side-by-side--to support IV comparison with greater flexibility. For an in-depth understanding of different strategies, we adapt and implement five IV comparison techniques across VR and 2D environments: SlideInVR, ToggleInVR, SlideIn2D, ToggleIn2D, and SideBySideIn2D. We then conduct a user study (N=20) to examine how these techniques shape users' perceptions, strategies, and workflows. Our findings provide empirical insights into the strengths and limitations of each technique, underscoring the need to switch between comparison approaches across scenarios. Notably, participants consistently rate SlideInVR and SlideIn2D as the most flexible and favorite methods for IV comparison.

Problem

• Immersive Video
• Video Comparison
• 360-degree Video
• Interaction Techniques
• User Study

Innovation

• Immersive Video
• Comparison Techniques
• Sliding Interaction
• Virtual Reality
• User Study