# Overt visual attention on rendered 3D objects

## TL;DR

This study investigates how different material appearances of 3D objects influence visual attention, using eye-tracking and a novel gaze projection technique to analyze fixation patterns on rendered surfaces.

## Contribution

We introduce a new method for projecting gaze fixations directly onto 3D object surfaces and demonstrate its effectiveness in studying material-dependent attention.

## Key findings

- Material appearance significantly affects visual attention patterns.
- The novel gaze projection technique improves accuracy of attention map visualization.
- Different materials like glossy, matte, and gold alter fixation distributions.

## Abstract

This work covers multiple aspects of overt visual attention on 3D renders: measurement, projection, visualization, and application to studying the influence of material appearance on looking behaviour. In the scope of this work, we ran an eye-tracking experiment in which the observers are presented with animations of rotating 3D objects. The objects were rendered to simulate different metallic appearance, particularly smooth (glossy), rough (matte), and coated gold. The eye-tracking results illustrate how material appearance itself influences the observer's attention, while all the other parameters remain unchanged. In order to make visualization of the attention maps more natural and also make the analysis more accurate, we develop a novel technique of projection of gaze fixations on the 3D surface of the figure itself, instead of the conventional 2D plane of the screen. The proposed methodology will be useful for further studies of attention and saliency in the computer graphics domain.