2,690 research outputs found
Design and Evaluation of Menu Systems for Immersive Virtual Environments
Interfaces for system control tasks in virtual environments (VEs) have not been extensively studied. This paper focuses on various types of menu systems to be used in such environments. We describe the design of the TULIP menu, a menu system using Pinch Gloves™, and compare it to two common alternatives: floating menus and pen and tablet menus. These three menus were compared in an empirical evaluation. The pen and tablet menu was found to be significantly faster, while users had a preference for TULIP. Subjective discomfort levels were also higher with the floating menus and pen and tablet
Using Pinch Gloves(TM) for both Natural and Abstract Interaction Techniques in Virtual Environments
Usable three-dimensional (3D) interaction techniques are difficult to design, implement, and evaluate. One reason for this is a poor understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the wide range of 3D input devices, and of the mapping between input devices and interaction techniques. We present an analysis of Pinch Gloves™ and their use as input devices for virtual environments (VEs). We have developed a number of novel and usable interaction techniques for VEs using the gloves, including a menu system, a technique for text input, and a two-handed navigation technique. User studies have indicated the usability and utility of these techniques
An Introduction to 3D User Interface Design
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
Exploring the Front Touch Interface for Virtual Reality Headsets
In this paper, we propose a new interface for virtual reality headset: a
touchpad in front of the headset. To demonstrate the feasibility of the front
touch interface, we built a prototype device, explored VR UI design space
expansion, and performed various user studies. We started with preliminary
tests to see how intuitively and accurately people can interact with the front
touchpad. Then, we further experimented various user interfaces such as a
binary selection, a typical menu layout, and a keyboard. Two-Finger and
Drag-n-Tap were also explored to find the appropriate selection technique. As a
low-cost, light-weight, and in low power budget technology, a touch sensor can
make an ideal interface for mobile headset. Also, front touch area can be large
enough to allow wide range of interaction types such as multi-finger
interactions. With this novel front touch interface, we paved a way to new
virtual reality interaction methods
A Conceptual Framework to Support Natural Interaction for Virtual Assembly Tasks
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
Stereoscopic bimanual interaction for 3D visualization
Virtual Environments (VE) are being widely used in various research fields for several decades such as 3D visualization, education, training and games. VEs have the potential to enhance the visualization and act as a general medium for human-computer interaction (HCI). However, limited research has evaluated virtual reality (VR) display technologies, monocular and binocular depth cues, for human depth perception of volumetric (non-polygonal) datasets. In addition, a lack of standardization of three-dimensional (3D) user interfaces (UI) makes it challenging to interact with many VE systems.
To address these issues, this dissertation focuses on evaluation of effects of stereoscopic and head-coupled displays on depth judgment of volumetric dataset. It also focuses on evaluation of a two-handed view manipulation techniques which support simultaneous 7 degree-of-freedom (DOF) navigation (x,y,z + yaw,pitch,roll + scale) in a multi-scale virtual environment (MSVE). Furthermore, this dissertation evaluates auto-adjustment of stereo view parameters techniques for stereoscopic fusion problems in a MSVE. Next, this dissertation presents a bimanual, hybrid user interface which combines traditional tracking devices with computer-vision based "natural" 3D inputs for multi-dimensional visualization in a semi-immersive desktop VR system. In conclusion, this dissertation provides a guideline for research design for evaluating UI and interaction techniques
A new method for interacting with multi-window applications on large, high resolution displays
Physically large display walls can now be constructed using off-the-shelf computer hardware. The high resolution
of these displays (e.g., 50 million pixels) means that a large quantity of data can be presented to users, so the
displays are well suited to visualization applications. However, current methods of interacting with display walls
are somewhat time consuming. We have analyzed how users solve real visualization problems using three desktop
applications (XmdvTool, Iris Explorer and Arc View), and used a new taxonomy to classify users’ actions and
illustrate the deficiencies of current display wall interaction methods. Following this we designed a novel methodfor interacting with display walls, which aims to let users interact as quickly as when a visualization application is used on a desktop system. Informal feedback gathered from our working prototype shows that interaction is both fast and fluid
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