Designing a 3D Gestural Interface to Support User Interaction with Time-Oriented Data as Immersive 3D Radar Chart

The design of intuitive three-dimensional user interfaces is vital for interaction in virtual reality, allowing to effectively close the loop between a human user and the virtual environment. The utilization of 3D gestural input allows for useful hand interaction with virtual content by directly grasping visible objects, or through invisible gestural commands that are associated with corresponding features in the immersive 3D space. The design of such interfaces remains complex and challenging. In this article, we present a design approach for a three-dimensional user interface using 3D gestural input with the aim to facilitate user interaction within the context of Immersive Analytics. Based on a scenario of exploring time-oriented data in immersive virtual reality using 3D Radar Charts, we implemented a rich set of features that is closely aligned with relevant 3D interaction techniques, data analysis tasks, and aspects of hand posture comfort. We conducted an empirical evaluation (n=12), featuring a series of representative tasks to evaluate the developed user interface design prototype. The results, based on questionnaires, observations, and interviews, indicate good usability and an engaging user experience. We are able to reflect on the implemented hand-based grasping and gestural command techniques, identifying aspects for improvement in regard to hand detection and precision as well as emphasizing a prototype's ability to infer user intent for better prevention of unintentional gestures.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

3D Interaction System with Multiple Identified,Small,Wireless,Battery-less,Occlusion-free Magnetic Markers

Tohoku University北村喜

From 3D Bimanual Toward Distant Collaborative Interaction Techniques: An Awareness Issue

International audienceThis paper aims to raise the question : "How much 3D bimanual interaction techniques can be useful to the design of collaborative interaction techniques in the field of Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE)?". Indeed, CVE involve the use of complex interaction techniques based on specific collaborative metaphors. The design of these metaphors may be a difficult task because it has to deal with collaborative issues that came from sparse research areas (Human-Computer Interfaces, Human-Human Interactions, Networking, Physiology and Social Psychology). Metaphors for bimanual interactions have been developed for a while essentially because it is a widely spread area of interest for common tasks. Bimanual interactions involve the simultaneous use of both hands of the user in order to achieve a goal with better performances compared to uni-manual interactions thanks to a natural skill that is proprioception. This collaborative aspect could certainly be a helpful entry point in the design of efficient collaborative interaction techniques extended from improved bimanual metaphors. However, the proprioceptive sense cannot be considered in the same way, and additional features must be proposed to be able to collaborate efficiently. Thus, awareness is a key to let CVE be usable and the availability of collaborative feedbacks is essential to extend bimanual interactions toward collaborative ones. In this paper, we based our study on existing work on bimanual and collaborative interaction techniques trying to draw similarities between them. We emphasize common points between both fields that could be useful to better design both metaphors and awareness in CVE

Light on horizontal interactive surfaces: Input space for tabletop computing

In the last 25 years we have witnessed the rise and growth of interactive tabletop research, both in academic and in industrial settings. The rising demand for the digital support of human activities motivated the need to bring computational power to table surfaces. In this article, we review the state of the art of tabletop computing, highlighting core aspects that frame the input space of interactive tabletops: (a) developments in hardware technologies that have caused the proliferation of interactive horizontal surfaces and (b) issues related to new classes of interaction modalities (multitouch, tangible, and touchless). A classification is presented that aims to give a detailed view of the current development of this research area and define opportunities and challenges for novel touch- and gesture-based interactions between the human and the surrounding computational environment. © 2014 ACM.This work has been funded by Integra (Amper Sistemas and CDTI, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) and TIPEx (TIN2010-19859-C03-01) projects and Programa de Becas y Ayudas para la Realización de Estudios Oficiales de Máster y Doctorado en la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 2010

Exploring Engineering Applications of Visual Analytics in Virtual Reality

Recent advancements and technological breakthroughs in the development of so-called immersive interfaces, such as augmented (AR), mixed (MR), and virtual reality (VR), coupled with the growing mass-market adoption of such devices has started to attract attention from academia and industry alike. Out of these technologies, VR offers the most mature option in terms of both hardware and software, as well as the best available range of different off-the-shelf offerings. VR is a term interchangeably used to denote both head-mounted displays (HMDs) and fully immersive, bespoke 3D environments which these devices transport their users to. With modern devices, developers can leverage a range of different interaction modalities, including visual, audio, and even haptic feedback, in the creation of these virtual worlds. With such a rich interaction space it is thus natural to think of VR as a well-suited environment for interactive visualisation and analytical reasoning of complex multidimensional data. Research in \textit{visual analytics} (VA) combines these two themes, spanning the last one and a half decades, and has revealed a number of research findings. This includes a range of new advanced and effective visualisation and analysis tools for even more complex, more noisy and larger data sets. Furthermore, the extension of this research and the use of immersive interfaces to facilitate visual analytics has spun-off a new field of research: \textit{immersive analytics} (IA). Immersive analytics leverages the potential bestowed by immersive interfaces to aid the user in swift and effective data analysis. Some of the most promising application domains of such immersive interfaces in the industry are various branches of engineering, including aerospace design and in civil engineering. The range of potential applications is vast and growing as new stakeholders are adopting these immersive tools. However, the use of these technologies brings its own challenges. One such difficulty is the design of appropriate interaction techniques. There is no optimal choice, instead such a choice varies depending on available hardware, the user’s prior experience, their task at hand, and the nature of the dataset. To this end, my PhD work has focused on designing and analysing various interactive, VR-based immersive systems for engineering visual analytics. One of the key elements of such an immersive system is the selection of an adequate interaction method. In a series of both qualitative and quantitative studies, I have explored the potential of various interaction techniques that can be used to support the user in swift and effective data analysis. Here, I have investigated the feasibility of using techniques such as hand-held controllers, gaze-tracking and hand-tracking input methods used solo or in combination in various challenging use cases and scenarios. For instance, I developed and verified the usability and effectiveness of the AeroVR system for aerospace design in VR. This research has allowed me to trim the very large design space of such systems that have been not sufficiently explored thus far. Moreover, building on top of this work, I have designed, developed, and tested a system for digital twin assessment in aerospace that coupled gaze-tracking and hand-tracking, achieved via an additional sensor attached to the front of the VR headset, with no need for the user to hold a controller. The analysis of the results obtained from a qualitative study with domain experts allowed me to distill and propose design implications when developing similar systems. Furthermore, I worked towards designing an effective VR-based visualisation of complex, multidimensional abstract datasets. Here, I developed and evaluated the immersive version of the well-known Parallel Coordinates Plots (IPCP) visualisation technique. The results of the series of qualitative user studies allowed me to obtain a list of design suggestions for IPCP, as well as provide tentative evidence that the IPCP can be an effective tool for multidimensional data analysis. Lastly, I also worked on the design, development, and verification of the system allowing its users to capture information in the context of conducting engineering surveys in VR. Furthermore, conducting a meaningful evaluation of immersive analytics interfaces remains an open problem. It is difficult and often not feasible to use traditional A/B comparisons in controlled experiments as the aim of immersive analytics is to provide its users with new insights into their data rather than focusing on more quantifying factors. To this end, I developed a generative process for synthesising clustered datasets for VR analytics experiments that can be used in the process of interface evaluation. I further validated this approach by designing and carrying out two user studies. The statistical analysis of the gathered data revealed that this generative process for synthesising clustered datasets did indeed result in datasets that can be used in experiments without the datasets themselves being the dominant contributor of the variability between conditions.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC-1788814); Trinity Hall and Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust; Cambridge Philosophical Societ

Barehand Mode Switching in Touch and Mid-Air Interfaces

Raskin defines a mode as a distinct setting within an interface where the same user input will produce results different to those it would produce in other settings. Most interfaces have multiple modes in which input is mapped to different actions, and, mode-switching is simply the transition from one mode to another. In touch interfaces, the current mode can change how a single touch is interpreted: for example, it could draw a line, pan the canvas, select a shape, or enter a command. In Virtual Reality (VR), a hand gesture-based 3D modelling application may have different modes for object creation, selection, and transformation. Depending on the mode, the movement of the hand is interpreted differently. However, one of the crucial factors determining the effectiveness of an interface is user productivity. Mode-switching time of different input techniques, either in a touch interface or in a mid-air interface, affects user productivity. Moreover, when touch and mid-air interfaces like VR are combined, making informed decisions pertaining to the mode assignment gets even more complicated. This thesis provides an empirical investigation to characterize the mode switching phenomenon in barehand touch-based and mid-air interfaces. It explores the potential of using these input spaces together for a productivity application in VR. And, it concludes with a step towards defining and evaluating the multi-faceted mode concept, its characteristics and its utility, when designing user interfaces more generally

Systematic literature review of hand gestures used in human computer interaction interfaces

Gestures, widely accepted as a humans' natural mode of interaction with their surroundings, have been considered for use in human-computer based interfaces since the early 1980s. They have been explored and implemented, with a range of success and maturity levels, in a variety of fields, facilitated by a multitude of technologies. Underpinning gesture theory however focuses on gestures performed simultaneously with speech, and majority of gesture based interfaces are supported by other modes of interaction. This article reports the results of a systematic review undertaken to identify characteristics of touchless/in-air hand gestures used in interaction interfaces. 148 articles were reviewed reporting on gesture-based interaction interfaces, identified through searching engineering and science databases (Engineering Village, Pro Quest, Science Direct, Scopus and Web of Science). The goal of the review was to map the field of gesture-based interfaces, investigate the patterns in gesture use, and identify common combinations of gestures for different combinations of applications and technologies. From the review, the community seems disparate with little evidence of building upon prior work and a fundamental framework of gesture-based interaction is not evident. However, the findings can help inform future developments and provide valuable information about the benefits and drawbacks of different approaches. It was further found that the nature and appropriateness of gestures used was not a primary factor in gesture elicitation when designing gesture based systems, and that ease of technology implementation often took precedence

Direct Manipulation on the Virtual Workbench: Two Hands Aren't Always Better Than One

This paper reports on the investigation of the differential levels of effectiveness of various interaction techniques on a simple rotation and translation task on the virtual workbench. Manipulation time and number of collisions were measured for subjects using four device sets (unimanual glove, bimanual glove, unimanual stick, and bimanual stick). Participants were also asked to subjectively judge each device's effectiveness. Performance results indicated a main effect for device (better performance for users of the stick(s)), but not for number of hands. Subjective results supported these findings, as users expressed a preference for the stick(s)

Exploring gestural input for engineering surveys of real-life structures in virtual reality using photogrammetric 3D models

Funder: Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust; doi: https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003343Funder: Tsinghua Academic Fund for Undergraduate Overseas StudiesFunder: Tsien Excellence in Engineering ProgramAbstract: Photogrammetry is a promising set of methods for generating photorealistic 3D models of physical objects and structures. Such methods may rely solely on camera-captured photographs or include additional sensor data. Digital twins are digital replicas of physical objects and structures. Photogrammetry is an opportune approach for generating 3D models for the purpose of preparing digital twins. At a sufficiently high level of quality, digital twins provide effective archival representations of physical objects and structures and become effective substitutes for engineering inspections and surveying. While photogrammetric techniques are well-established, insights about effective methods for interacting with such models in virtual reality remain underexplored. We report the results of a qualitative engineering case study in which we asked six domain experts to carry out engineering measurement tasks in an immersive environment using bimanual gestural input coupled with gaze-tracking. The qualitative case study revealed that gaze-supported bimanual interaction of photogrammetric 3D models is a promising modality for domain experts. It allows the experts to efficiently manipulate and measure elements of the 3D model. To better allow designers to support this modality, we report design implications distilled from the feedback from the domain experts