Virtual Smartphone: High Fidelity Interaction with Proxy Objects in Virtual Reality

TL;DR

This paper introduces two high-fidelity proxy objects, a virtual paper map and smartphone, enhancing interaction and orientation in VR by enabling precise, intuitive touch-based actions without visual hand cues.

Contribution

It presents novel virtual proxy objects that improve interaction fidelity and discusses the trade-offs between adaptivity and realism in VR proxies.

Findings

Participants interacted precisely with virtual objects

Interactions were intuitive despite no hand visibility

Virtual objects' realistic size enhanced user experience

Abstract

This workshop paper presents two proxy objects for high fidelity interaction in virtual reality (VR): a paper map and a smartphone. We showcase how our virtual paper map can increase interactivity and orientation, while our virtual smartphone extends the use of a proxy object, as it allows for actual touch input on a real phone leading to an almost infinite set of possible (inter-)actions (e.g. snapping pictures in the virtual world). Observations showed that participants were very precise in holding and interacting with both the paper map and the smartphone even though they did not see their hands in VR. The interaction in general was very intuitive which was mostly attributed to the realistic size of the virtual objects. Using our findings we discuss the trade off between adaptivity and high fidelity of proxy objects in VR.