Selection-based Text Entry in Virtual Reality

Abstract

In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) and 3D User Interfaces (3DUI) have seen a drastic increase in popularity, especially in terms of consumer-ready hardware and software. While the technology for input as well as output devices is market ready, only a few solutions for text input exist, and empirical knowledge about performance and user preferences is lacking. In this paper, we study text entry in VR by selecting characters on a virtual keyboard. We discuss the design space for assessing selection-based text entry in VR. Then, we implement six methods that span different parts of the design space and evaluate their performance and user preferences. Our results show that pointing using tracked hand-held controllers outperforms all other methods. Other methods such as head pointing can be viable alternatives depending on available resources. We summarize our findings by formulating guidelines for choosing optimal virtual keyboard text entry methods in VR.