Slicing-Volume: Hybrid 3D/2D Multi-target Selection Technique for Dense Virtual Environments

Abstract

3D selection in dense VR environments (e.g., point clouds) is extremely challenging due to occlusion and imprecise mid-air input modalities (e.g., 3D controllers and hand gestures). In this paper, we propose "Slicing-Volume", a hybrid selection technique that enables simultaneous 3D interaction in mid-air, and a 2D penand-tablet metaphor in VR. Inspired by well-known slicing plane techniques in data visualization, our technique consists of a 3D volume that encloses target objects in mid-air, which are then projected to a 2D tablet view for precise selection on a tangible physical surface. While slicing techniques and tablets-in-VR have been previously explored, in this paper, we evaluated the potential of this hybrid approach to improve accuracy in highly occluded selection tasks, comparing different multimodal interactions (e.g., Mid-air, Virtual Tablet and Real Tablet). Our results showed that our hybrid technique significantly improved overall accuracy of selection compared to Mid-air selection only, thanks to the added haptic feedback given by the physical tablet surface, rather than the added visualization given by the tablet view.

Cross-modal interaction of stereoscopy, surface deformation and tactile feedback on the perception of texture roughness in an active touch condition

“…The third envisioned application involves the combination of stereoscopy, surface deformation, and tactile feedback in a virtual reality environment for the edition or exploration of 3D surfaces. As depicted in Figure 5.c, a virtual frame representing a physical handheld tactile plate could enable the selection and exploration of part of the 3D scene, similar to what was proposed by Montano et al [30] for dense environments selection.…”

Keep the Human in the Loop: Arguments for Human Assistance in the Synthesis of Simulation Data for Robot Training

“…Although mapping scan data to semantically meaningful objects is often performed using 2D interfaces, VR was found to be promising due to its 3D environment, which makes navigation easier [8]. Using VR, prior works proposed various methods for object labeling using boundary boxes [6], point cloud part selection and labeling throughout recorded video streams [7], or a tablet to enhance the selection accuracy for fine-grain adjustments [23]. Users can further interactively segment point clouds by touching objects or surfaces and verbally identifying them to trigger algorithms to reconstruct 3D models of the selected objects [9].…”

Comparing and Contrasting Near-Field, Object Space, and a Novel Hybrid Interaction Technique for Distant Object Manipulation in VR

“…With the hybrid interaction technique, users can switch freely between each of the two modes, potentially leveraging the advantages of both. This method of combining the advantages of different interactions has been shown to be generally effective in improving performance, and specifically for selection and manipulation accuracy [35,36]. Thus, with regards to H4, we expected the hybrid interaction technique to balance between accuracy and efficiency.…”