Moving objects in space

TLDR

Manipulation in immersive virtual environments is difficult because users lack haptic contact with real objects that help them orient themselves and their manipulanda. The authors propose using the user's own body as the sole real object to compensate for this lack. They present a unified proprioception-based framework featuring direct manipulation, physical mnemonics, gestural actions, and automatic scaling to bring objects within reach. The techniques enable intuitive, efficient, precise, and lazy interaction, as supported by informal and formal usability studies. CR.

Abstract

Manipulation in immersive virtual environments is difficult partly because users must do without the haptic contact with real objects they rely on in the real world to orient themselves and their manipulanda. To compensate for this lack, we propose exploiting the one real object every user has in a virtual environment, his body. We present a unified framework for virtual-environment interaction based on proprioception, a person's sense of the position and orientation of his body and limbs. We describe three forms of body-relative interaction: • Direct manipulation—ways to use body sense to help control manipulation • Physical mnemonics—ways to store/recall information relative to the body • Gestural actions—ways to use body-relative actions to issue commands Automatic scaling is a way to bring objects instantly within reach so that users can manipulate them using proprioceptive cues. Several novel virtual interaction techniques based upon automatic scaling and our proposed framework of proprioception allow a user to interact with a virtual world intuitively, efficiently, precisely, and lazily. We report the results of both informal user trials and formal user studies of the usability of the body-relative interaction techniques presented. CR