ORCID

Abstract

Facial expressions are a crucial part of affective communication in our daily lives, and the same applies to virtual humans. However, achieving a full range of believable and naturalistic emotional expression via VR devices still remains a challenge, particularly when constrained by the capabilities of midrange consumer VR devices without face tracking as opposed to the more expensive versions with facial tracking capabilities. In this study, we evaluated and compared three methods to control avatar facial expression in VR: continuous face tracking (FT); thumbstick label (TL), which is a VR controller's thumbstick-based selection method with visually labeled expression; and thumbstick label with confirmation button (TB), which is a variation of TL with an additional step of pressing a button. Thirty participants took part in the experiment. Participants found FT to be significantly more usable than TL and TB. While TL was comparable to FT on co-presence and several items of expressiveness, with significant gaps emerging mainly for naturalness and smoothness in expression change. These findings suggest that a well-designed control method with low latency and low motor and cognitive load can serve as an alternative method of avatar control in VR devices without facial tracking technology.

Keywords

avatars, co-presence, control methods, controller-based interaction, face tracking, facial expression, nonverbal behavior, virtual reality, VR

Publication Date

2026-05-01

Publication Title

Computer Animation and Virtual Worlds

Volume

37

Issue

3

ISSN

1546-4261

Deposit Date

2026-06-22

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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