Tech-note: Dynamic Dragging for Input of 3D Trajectories

2003

Current interfaces for manipulating curves typically use a standard point cursor to indirectly adjust curve parameters. We present an interface for far more direct manipulation of curves using a specialized high degree-of-freedom curve input device, called ShapeTape. This device allows us to directly control the shape and position of a virtual curve widget. We describe the design and implementation of a variety of interaction techniques that use this curve widget to create and manipulate other virtual curves in 2D and 3D space. The input device is also used to sense a set of user gestures for invoking commands and tools. The result is an effective alternate user interface for curve manipulation that can be used in 2D and 3D graphics applications.

2003

We present a 3D input device consisting of a stiff piece of paper which is tracked by a digital video camera. The user can also draw on the paper using a pen-like device. The user moves the paper to specify the location of a virtual plane. By drawing on the paper, the user can specify points in 3D space. The primary technical contribution of this paper is a new pose estimation algorithm suitable for a hand-held, moving pattern. To demonstrate the usefulness of the device we developed a sketching application for simple characters. The characters are constructed by sketching and joining together 3D ellipses, much as traditional cartoon characters are created in 2D using 2D ellipses.

Shape Modeling …, 2004

This paper introduces an immersive styling environment, which aims at closing the gap between 2D drawing and 3D modeling in the design process. The main goal of the styling system is to provide the user an easy to use interface hiding the inherent mathematic nature of CAD. Creating rough 3D sketches should literally be as intuitive as 2D sketching with pen and paper. To achieve this, the tools developed in our system benefit from the stylists' skills, acquired through training over time. This paper focuses on the stroke-input methods of our styling system. We present different techniques for creating and modifying 3D curves: stroke splitting, oversketching and taping. In addition we report on the viability of using input constraints in immersive environments to overcome inherent weaknesses.

Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2020

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in applications such as data analysis, artistic creation, and clinical settings requires high precision input. However, the current design of handheld controllers, where wrist rotation is the primary input approach, does not exploit the human fingers' capability for dexterous movements for high precision pointing and selection. To address this issue, we investigated the characteristics and potential of using a pen as a VR input device. We conducted two studies. The first examined which pen grip allowed the largest range of motion-we found a tripod grip at the rear end of the shaft met this criterion. The second study investigated target selection via 'poking' and ray-casting, where we found the pen grip outperformed the traditional wrist-based input in both cases. Finally, we demonstrate potential applications enabled by VR pen input and grip postures.

2008

We present ILoveSketch, a 3D curve sketching system that captures some of the affordances of pen and paper for professional designers, allowing them to iterate directly on concept 3D curve models. The system coherently integrates existing techniques of sketch-based interaction with a number of novel and enhanced features. Novel contributions of the system include automatic view rotation to improve curve sketchability, an axis widget for sketch surface selection, and implicitly inferred changes between sketching techniques. We also improve on a number of existing ideas such as a virtual sketchbook, simplified 2D and 3D view navigation, multi-stroke NURBS curve creation, and a cohesive gesture vocabulary. An evaluation by a professional designer shows the potential of our system for deployment within a real design process.

This short paper is a work-in-progress report on an experimental comparison and evaluation of users’ performance in four line- tracing tasks based on two shapes and performed with three input methods (mouse, stylus, and touch-input). The shapes’ properties used in the study created the two classes of shapes: easy and hard to replicate. As expected these two classes had different impact on user’s performance in each task tested (tracing, lasso selection, steering through narrow and wide tunnel). The results show that participants replicating the shapes using touch-input were the least accurate but were the fastest in comparison to the remaining input methods. The stylus was the least error-prone method and the mouse was the slowest device in drawing tasks (tracing and selection). The differences in error distances between the input methods were less pronounced in steering tasks but timing data showed that mouse was still the slowest one. While the time of replication did not differ between the two shapes tested, the differences between the errors participants made were significant for all tasks and input devices, and patterns of these differences were consistent between the shapes. These results confirm predictions from a previous study and show which shapes’ properties can make their replication more difficult. The results can be used to design shapes that are easy to replicate, e.g., in surface-based gestural interaction.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2008

This paper presents a novel and user friendly input device for 3D curves. The system is based on a piece of flexible wire and a single off-the-shelf photo camera: the user bends the wire to the desired 3D shape; then, an ad-hoc technique for 3D reconstruction is used to recover its 3D shape (a space curve) from a single image.

26th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, 2020

b a d c pneumatic actuator inflates emulating contact with a surface vibrations generate texture Figure 1: (a) VRSketchPen recreates the feeling of (b) contact pressure and (c) textures of surfaces, which allows users to have a more realistic experience when (d) drawing in VR. VRSketchPen also uses the unconstrained haptic feedback interaction technique, that allows users to draw in both flat and curved surfaces without snapping the stroke to a virtual canvas.

2011

A comparison of the aggregated performance measurements for three input methods in a line-tracing task is presented. Results indicate that users perform best using touch input, both in tasks with and without visual feedback, therefore we recommend touch input as the preferred input method for simple drawing tasks.

2007

Abstract Interactive surfaces are becoming increasingly popular. A table/wall setting provides a large interactive visual surface for groups to interact together. After describing the user requirements, we demonstrate different possible solutions for both the display and the tracking implementation. We propose an easy-to-implement solution for tracking large surfaces based on digital pen from Anoto. Keywords: Digital Whiteboard, Interactive Table, Digital Pen, Advanced User Interface

… of the 13th International Conference in …, 2005

2011

In this paper, we evaluate a path editing method using a tangible user interface to generate and manipulate the movement path of a 3D object in an Augmented Reality (AR) scene. To generate the movement path, each translation point of a real 3D manipulation prop is examined to determine which point should be used as a control point for the path. Interpolation using splines is then used to reconstruct the path with a smooth line.