794 research outputs found

    Cooperative object manipulation in collaborative virtual environments

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    Friction surfaces: scaled ray-casting manipulation for interacting with 2D GUIs

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    The accommodation of conventional 2D GUIs with Virtual Environments (VEs) can greatly enhance the possibilities of many VE applications. In this paper we present a variation of the well-known ray-casting technique for fast and accurate selection of 2D widgets over a virtual window immersed into a 3D world. The main idea is to provide a new interaction mode where hand rotations are scaled down so that the ray is constrained to intersect the active virtual window. This is accomplished by changing the control-display ratio between the orientation of the user’s hand and the ray used for selection. Our technique uses a curved representation of the ray providing visual feedback of the orientation of both the input device and the selection ray. The users’ feeling is that they control a flexible ray that gets curved as it moves over a virtual friction surface defined by the 2D window. We have implemented this technique and evaluated its effectiveness in terms of accuracy and performance. Our experiments on a four-sided CAVE indicate that the proposed technique can increase the speed and accuracy of component selection in 2D GUIs immersed into 3D worlds.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

    A Conceptual Framework to Support Natural Interaction for Virtual Assembly Tasks

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    Over the years, various approaches have been investigated to support natural human interaction with CAD models in an immersive virtual environment. The motivation for this avenue of research stems from the desire to provide a method where users can manipulate and assemble digital product models as if they were manipulating actual models. The ultimate goal is to produce an immersive environment where design and manufacturing decisions which involve human interaction can be made using only digital CAD models, thus avoiding the need to create costly preproduction physical prototypes. This paper presents a framework to approach the development of virtual assembly applications. The framework is based on a Two Phase model where the assembly task is divided into a free movement phase and a fine positioning phase. Each phase can be implemented using independent techniques; however, the algorithms needed to interface between the two techniques are critical to the success of the method. The paper presents a summary of three virtual assembly techniques and places them within the framework of the Two Phase model. Finally, the conclusions call for the continued development of a testbed to compare virtual assembly methods

    Computational steering in the CAVE

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    Scientists can gain much more insight from their simulations if they are enabled to change simulation parameters on the fly while observing the results immediately. A crucial aspect of such {em computational steering/ is an intuitive user interface. We have developed an environment that enables researchers to construct such interfaces efficiently and effectively for graphical workstations. In this paper we report on our next step towards more intuitive user-interfaces: We have modified our system for use in the CAVE. The CAVE is a projection-based virtual environment. Virtual environments are designed to provide the effect of immersion in an interactive three-dimensional computer-generated environment. We show that the use of virtual environments for computational steering interfaces can improve interaction with the simulation and immersion in the computational process. We present our system, the methods we have developed for improved 3D interaction, and describe three applications

    Designing 3D scenarios and interaction tasks for immersive environments

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    In the world of today, immersive reality such as virtual and mixed reality, is one of the most attractive research fields. Virtual Reality, also called VR, has a huge potential to be used in in scientific and educational domains by providing users with real-time interaction or manipulation. The key concept in immersive technologies to provide a high level of immersive sensation to the user, which is one of the main challenges in this field. Wearable technologies play a key role to enhance the immersive sensation and the degree of embodiment in virtual and mixed reality interaction tasks. This project report presents an application study where the user interacts with virtual objects, such as grabbing objects, open or close doors and drawers while wearing a sensory cyberglove developed in our lab (Cyberglove-HT). Furthermore, it presents the development of a methodology that provides inertial measurement unit(IMU)-based gesture recognition. The interaction tasks and 3D immersive scenarios were designed in Unity 3D. Additionally, we developed an inertial sensor-based gesture recognition by employing an Long short-term memory (LSTM) network. In order to distinguish the effect of wearable technologies in the user experience in immersive environments, we made an experimental study comparing the Cyberglove-HT to standard VR controllers (HTC Vive Controller). The quantitive and subjective results indicate that we were able to enhance the immersive sensation and self embodiment with the Cyberglove-HT. A publication resulted from this work [1] which has been developed in the framework of the R&D project Human Tracking and Perception in Dynamic Immersive Rooms (HTPDI

    PORTAL: Portal Widget for Remote Target Acquisition and Control in Immersive Virtual Environments

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    This paper introduces PORTAL (POrtal widget for Remote Target Acquisition and controL) that allows the user to interact with out-of-reach objects in a virtual environment. We describe the PORTAL interaction technique for placing a portal widget and interacting with target objects through the portal. We conduct two formal user studies to evaluate PORTAL for selection and manipulation functionalities. The results show PORTAL supports participants to interact with remote objects successfully and precisely. Following that, we discuss its potential and limitations, and future works

    Implementing flexible rules of interaction for object manipulation in cluttered virtual environments

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    Object manipulation in cluttered virtual environments (VEs) brings additional challenges to the design of interaction algorithms, when compared with open virtual spaces. As the complexity of the algorithms increases so does the flexibility with which users can interact, but this is at the expense of much greater difficulties in implementation for developers. Three rules that increase the realism and flexibility of interaction are outlined: collision response, order of control, and physical compatibility. The implementation of each is described, highlighting the substantial increase in algorithm complexity that arises. Data are reported from an experiment in which participants manipulated a bulky virtual object through parts of a virtual building (the piano movers’ problem). These data illustrate the benefits to users that accrue from implementing flexible rules of interaction

    An Introduction to 3D User Interface Design

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    3D user interface design is a critical component of any virtual environment (VE) application. In this paper, we present a broad overview of three-dimensional (3D) interaction and user interfaces. We discuss the effect of common VE hardware devices on user interaction, as well as interaction techniques for generic 3D tasks and the use of traditional two-dimensional interaction styles in 3D environments. We divide most user interaction tasks into three categories: navigation, selection/manipulation, and system control. Throughout the paper, our focus is on presenting not only the available techniques, but also practical guidelines for 3D interaction design and widely held myths. Finally, we briefly discuss two approaches to 3D interaction design, and some example applications with complex 3D interaction requirements. We also present an annotated online bibliography as a reference companion to this article

    Application and taxonomy of through-the-lens techniques

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