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doi:10.1016/j.ijh
Int. J. Human-Computer Studies 67 (2009) 223–224
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhcs
Editorial
Current trends in 3D user interface research
Hardware, software, and in particular users now seemready to engage with computer-generated 3D worlds andthe appropriate 3D user interfaces (3D UIs) for interactingwith such worlds. 3D UIs have traditionally only been usedin very specific application domains such as virtual reality(VR) and augmented reality (AR) environments, digitalcontent creation (DCC) systems, computer-aided design(CAD) systems, visualization systems, and computergames. Now they are beginning to appear in operatingsystems, on personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobilephones, and in console gaming systems (e.g., Nintendo’sWii). Even 3D cinema has been given a second chance, andstereoscopic versions of movies are produced on a regularbasis. Consequently, new television systems are beingequipped with 3D functionality. These examples show thatthe demand for and the use of 3D UIs is significantlyincreasing.
The IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI)was established in 2006 following two successful work-shops—the 2004 workshop ‘‘Beyond Wand and GloveBased Interaction’’ and the 2005 workshop ‘‘New Direc-tions in 3D User Interfaces.’’ Today, the 3DUI symposiumis the premier conference for all types of 3D user interfaceresearch for desktop and off-the-desktop environments,including novel input device designs, interaction techni-ques, evaluation methods, and user studies.
In this special issue of IJHCS, we are pleased to presentextended versions of three outstanding papers that wereoriginally presented at the 3DUI 2007 and 3DUI 2008. Anadditional paper resulting from an open call was alsoaccepted to this special issue.
The first paper, by Hachet et al. (2009), describes a set ofwidgets that provide a comprehensive solution for point ofinterest (POI) navigation in 3D environments. It allowsusers to quickly navigate to a particular view, explore a 3Dscene, or investigate a single object in detail, and it can beused on a variety of display devices. These basic conceptsare also extended to other uses beyond navigation alone.
The work by Vanacken et al. (2009) presents two new 3Dselection techniques, 3D Bubble Cursor and Depth Ray.Both are targeted at selection in dense and occluded 3Dvirtual environments. The user studies vary both environ-ment density and target visibility to evaluate the newtechniques against a standard 3D point cursor. The effect
e front matter r 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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of auditory and haptic feedback on the selection process isalso investigated in a study. The results show that the newtechniques enable efficient selection of hidden objects.The paper by Pusch et al. (2009) presents a new method
for providing a pseudo-haptic sensation in an augmentedreality setting. The central idea is to displace the virtualrepresentation of the hand from the actual position of thereal hand depending on the strength of a virtual flow field.When a user places the hand in a virtual flow field and triesto maintain the hand’s position at a cued location, a flowpressure-like sensation is perceived. Experimental resultsshow that different force field strength levels can bediscriminated.Finally, Sharlin et al. (2009) present a novel system and a
set of measures for assessing cognitive mapping abilities inthe context of a wayfinding task. The hardware setupconsists of a projection display for the presentation ofvirtual environments and a tangible tabletop interfacefor building a physical model of a seen environment.The cognitive mapping abilities of the users are assessedby recording and analyzing the building progress of thephysical model. Since this setup has proven to be sensitiveto factors affecting cognitive mapping it allows thecomputer-supported assessment of this important humanability.All of these papers contain high-quality contributions to
the growing field of 3D user interfaces. We thank theauthors for their stimulating work and the reviewers fortheir constructive and detailed comments.
References
Hachet, Martin, Decle, Fabrice, Knodel, Sebastian, Guitton, Pascal, 2009.
Navidget for 3D interaction: camera positioning and further uses.
International Journal of Human–Computer Studies 67, 225–236.
Pusch, Andreas, Martin, Olivier, Coquillart, Sabine, 2009. HEMP—hand-
displacement-based pseudo-haptics: a study of a force field application
and a behavioural analysis. International Journal of Human–Computer
Studies 67, 256–268.
Sharlin, Ehud, Watson, Benjamin, Sutphen, Steve, Liu, Lili, Lederer,
Robert, Frazer, John, 2009. A tangible user interface for assessing
cognitive mapping ability. International Journal of Human–Computer
Studies 67, 269–278.
Vanacken, Lode, Grossman, Tovi, Coninx, Karin, 2009. Multimodal
selection techniques for dense and occluded 3D virtual environments.
International Journal of Human–Computer Studies 67, 237–255.
ARTICLE IN PRESSEditorial / Int. J. Human-Computer Studies 67 (2009) 223–224224
Doug BowmanDepartment of Computer Science, Virginia Tech,
Blacksburg, VA, USA
E-mail address: [email protected]
Bernd FrohlichFaculty of Media, Bauhaus-Universitat Weimar,
Weimar, Germany
E-mail address: [email protected]
Yoshifumi KitamuraGraduate School of Information Science and Technology,
Osaka University, Japan
E-mail address: [email protected]
Wolfgang StuerzlingerDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering,
Centre for Vision Research, York University, Canada
E-mail address: [email protected]
