Abstract
We present Handymap, a novel selection interface for virtual environments with dense datasets. The approach was motivated by shortcomings of standard ray-casting methods in highly cluttered views such as in our visualization application for coalbed methane well logs. Handymap uses a secondary 2D overview of a scene that allows selection of a target when it is occluded in the main view, and that reduces required pointing precision. Reduced sensitivity to pointing precision is especially useful for consumer-level VR systems due to their modest tracking precision and display sizes. The overview is presented on a tracked touch device (iPod Touch) that is also usable as a general VR wand. Objects are selected by a tap or touch-move-release action on the touch surface. Optionally, redundant visual feedback and highlighting on the main display can allow a user to keep focus on the main display and may be useful with standard wand interfaces. Initial user feedback suggests Handymap can be a useful selection interface for cluttered environments but may require some learning.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Mine, M.R.: Virtual Environment Interaction Techniques. Technical Report, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1995)
Steed, A., Parker, C.: 3D Selection Strategies for Head Tracked and Non-Head Tracked Operation of Spatially Immersive Displays. In: 8th International Immersive Projection Technology Workshop (2004)
Poupyrev, I., Weghorst, S., Billinghurst, M., Ichikawa, T.: Egocentric Object Manipulation in Virtual Environments: Empirical Evaluation of Interaction Techniques. Computer Graphics Forum 17(3), 41–52 (1998)
Bowman, D.A., Johnson, D.B., Hodges, L.F.: Testbed Evaluation of Virtual Environment Interaction Techniques. In: Proceedings of ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST), pp. 26–33 (1999)
Grossman, T., Balakrishnan, R.: The Design and Evaluation of Selection Techniques for 3D Volumetric Displays. In: Proceedings of ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST), pp. 3–12 (2006)
Bowman, D.A., Kruijff, E., LaViola, J.J., Poupyrev, I.: 3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice. Addison-Wesley, Reading (2004)
Olwal, A., Feiner, S.: The Flexible Pointer: An Interaction Technique for Augmented and Virtual Reality. In: Conference Supplement of ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST), pp. 81–82 (2003)
Wyss, H.P., Blach, R., Bues, M.: iSith – Intersection-based Spatial Interaction for Two Hands. In: Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI), pp. 59–61 (2006)
Liang, J., Green, M.: JDCAD: A Highly Interactive 3D Modeling System. Computers and Graphics 18(4), 499–506 (1994)
ForsBerg, A., Herndon, K., Zeleznik, R.: Aperture Based Selection for Immersive Virtual Environments. In: Proceedings of ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, pp. 95–96 (1996)
Frees, S., Kessler, G.D., Kay, E.: PRISM Interaction for Enhancing Control in Immersive Virtual Environments. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 14(1), 2 (2007)
Kopper, R., Bacim, F., Bowman, D.A.: Rapid and Accurate 3D Selection by Progressive Refinement. In: Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI), pp. 67–74 (2011)
Aspin, R., Le, K.H.: Augmenting the CAVE: An Initial Study into Close Focused, Inward Looking, Exploration in IPT Systems. In: Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Distributed Simulation and Real-Time Applications, pp. 217–224 (2007)
Olwal, A., Feiner, S.: Spatially Aware Handhelds for High-Precision Tangible Interaction with Large Displays. In: Proceedings of International Conference on Tangible and Embedded Interaction (TEI), pp. 181–188 (2009)
Katzakis, N., Hori, M.: Mobile Devices as Multi-DOF Controllers. In: Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI), pp. 139–140 (2010)
Kim, J.-S., Gračanin, D., Matković, K., Quek, F.: Finger walking in place (FWIP): A traveling technique in virtual environments. In: Butz, A., Fisher, B., Krüger, A., Olivier, P., Christie, M. (eds.) SG 2008. LNCS, vol. 5166, pp. 58–69. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)
Kim, J., Gračanin, D., Matković, K., Quek, F.: iPhone/iPod Touch as Input Devices for Navigation in Immersive Virtual Environments. In: Proceedings of IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality (VR), pp. 261–262 (2009)
Song, P., Goh, W.B., Fu, C., Meng, Q., Heng, P.: WYSIWYF: Exploring and Annotating Volume Data with a Tangible Handheld Device. In: Proceedings of ACM Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), pp. 1333–1342 (2011)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Prachyabrued, M., Ducrest, D.L., Borst, C.W. (2011). Handymap: A Selection Interface for Cluttered VR Environments Using a Tracked Hand-Held Touch Device. In: Bebis, G., et al. Advances in Visual Computing. ISVC 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6939. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24031-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24031-7_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-24030-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-24031-7
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)