Near-contact person-to-3D character dance training: comparing AR and VR for interactive entertainmentNear-contact person-to-3D character dance training: comparing AR and VR for interactive entertainment Δημοσίευση σε Συνέδριο Conference Publication 2023-05-162021enThis research has been co-financed by the EU and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (project: T1EDK-01469).This paper presents an innovative, near-contact, person-to-3D character, real-time dance training framework for leaders developed in Augmented Reality (AR) for interactive entertainment. Rather than mimicking pre-recorded dance animations as in previous work, the user is trained to lead a 3D partner while dancing, employing mid-air gestures. Real and virtual hands are joined and dance movements are initiated to which the 3D character responds to, through Unity's Inverse Kinematics solvers, in a non-predetermined manner following Latin dance rules. We evaluate task workload and usability of our AR dance training system compared with the Virtual Reality (VR) equivalent. Perceived training performance, accuracy of actions and fun were lower in AR, evoking increased training effort in AR compared to playfully training in VR. Design recommendations include increasing AR's Field of View, enhancing high quality graphics in AR, removing obtrusive cabling in VR and improving finger tracking in VR.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/2021 IEEE Conference on Games Kirakosian Salva Κιρακοσιαν Σαλβα Daskalogrigorakis Grigorios Δασκαλογρηγορακης Γρηγοριος Maravelakis, Emmanuel Mania Aikaterini Μανια Αικατερινη Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Augmented reality Virtual reality Interactive entertainment Animation Dance