Effects of image size and interactivity in lighting visualization

Rendered images of varied lighting conditions in a virtual environment have been shown to provide a perceptually accurate visual impression of those in a real environment, providing a valuable tool set for the development and communication of new lighting solutions. In order to further improve this tool set, an experiment was conducted to assess the impact of image size and viewing interactivity on perceptual accuracy. It was found that a high-quality TVsized display outperforms a smaller laptop screen and a larger projected image on most measures, and that the expected value of the interactive panoramic format was masked by the fatigue of using it repeatedly.