|
CMU-CS-01-160
Computer Science Department
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
CMU-CS-01-160
Expanding the Interaction Lexicon for 3D Graphics
Jeffrey S. Pierce
November 2001
Ph.D. Thesis
CMU-CS-01-160.ps
CMU-CS-01-160.pdf
Keywords: Human-computer interaction, interaction techniques,
3D interaction, generative method, breaking assumptions, content creation,
object manipulation, navigation, 3D painting, interaction surface,
interaction maps, voodoo dolls, visible landmarks, place representations
Historically user interfaces evolved in a series of rapid paradigm shifts
followed by periods of incremental development. Because widely adopted user
interfaces are resistant to change, we can potentially have a greater
impact on improving interfaces by working on the next, rather than the
current, interaction paradigm. While there are several candidate paradigms,
I chose to focus on 3D interaction because of its potential to leverage
people's natural and learned abilities. While current 3D interfaces are
promising, we have only explored a small part of the design space. I
believe that the reason is that we are limited by our assumptions when we
build 3D interfaces. We all grow up in a fully immersive 3D world, and when
we design virtual worlds we often transfer characteristics of the real
world without considering other options. We have also been building worlds
long enough to start thinking of the current methods as the correct
methods, and thus rather than explore new parts of the design space we
emulate existing work. I believe that to realize the potential of 3D
interaction we need to expand the interaction lexicon for interactive 3D
graphics. My hypothesis is that we can create demonstrably useful 3D
interaction techniques by identifying and breaking our assumptions about
the real world and about existing practice. I present an existence proof
for this hypothesis consisting of interaction techniques that I created
using this approach. These techniques allow users to manipulate objects
using Voodoo Dolls, navigate large virtual worlds using Places and
Landmarks, and specify the interaction semantics of 3D models by painting
Interaction Surfaces. I also present experimental evaluations of these
techniques that demonstrate their utility.
145 pages
|