Usability Comparison of Mouse, Touch and Tangible Inputs for 3D Data Manipulation

TL;DR

This study compares mouse, touch, and tangible inputs for 3D object manipulation, analyzing performance, usability, and user preferences to inform better integration of interaction techniques in 3D environments.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive comparison of three input modalities for 3D manipulation, highlighting their relative performance and user preferences in practical tasks.

Findings

All modalities achieved similar precision levels.

Interaction times varied significantly between modalities.

User preferences differed based on fatigue and workload.

Abstract

We evaluate the performance and usability of mouse-based, touch-based, and tangible interaction for manipulating objects in a 3D virtual environment. This comparison is a step toward a better understanding of the limitations and benefits of these existing interaction techniques, with the ultimate goal of facilitating the integration of different 3D data exploration environments into a single interaction continuum. For this purpose we analyze participants' performance in 3D manipulation using a docking task. We measured completion times, docking precision, as well as subjective criteria such as fatigue, workload, and preference. Our results show that the three input modalities provide similar levels of precision but require different interaction times. We also discuss our qualitative observations as well as people's preferences and put our findings into context of the practical application domain of 3D data analysis environments.