Over the past decade, there has been remarkable advancement in imaging and computing technologies, which have driven the production of plenoptic devices that capture and display visual contents, not only as texture information (as in 2D images) but also as 3D texture-geometric information. More specifically, there is currently a range of plenoptic devices available that can capture visual information, displaying objects in 3D space. Depending on the capturing device, the visual data can be represented as holograms, light fields, meshes or point clouds imaging formats. This has led to the creation of highly accurate depictions of the physical world and of multimodal human-computer interactions, paving the way for immersive and interactive experiences in either photo-realistic or virtual environments. Current immersive experiences span a spectrum across what is termed the “virtuality continuum,” encompassing everything from photorealistic settings to mixed reality approaches and entirely virtual environments.

In this scenario, high-speed connections and high-quality imaging systems are essential for the development of next-generation immersive experiences and applications in areas such as healthcare, education/training, arts, entertainment, remote work, marketing, and automotive. The success of these emerging applications will depend on the acceptability of these formats by the final user, which ultimately depends on the perceived quality of experience (QoE) and the visual quality of the media.  As defined by Qualinet, QoE refers to the “degree of delight or annoyance of applications or services resulting from the fulfillment of his or her expectations with respect to the utility and/or enjoyment of the application or service in the light of the user’s personality and current state.” For immersive technologies, immersive media experiences (IMEx) extend the concept of QoE by encompassing elements such as the sense of presence, immersion, and motion sickness, among others.

In this special session, we want to explore the different aspects of IMEx and QoE for the different types of immersive media applications, such as point clouds, light fields, and holography. We are interested in subjective studies that have the goal of understanding different aspects of the immersive media experience and the impact of system parameters (e.g., compression and transmission) on the perceived visual quality. We are also interested in objective quality assessment methods for these different types of formats.