HyFinBall: a Hybrid User Interface for Coordinated 2D+3D Visualization in Semi-Immersive VR

TL;DR

HyFinBall introduces a hybrid user interface that seamlessly integrates 2D and 3D interaction modes for coordinated visualization in semi-immersive VR, enhancing cross-dimensional task performance.

Contribution

This paper presents a novel bimanual hybrid interface with seamless mode switching and formal user studies demonstrating its effectiveness for 2D, 3D, and cross-dimensional tasks.

Findings

Improved performance in cross-dimensional tasks.

Effective seamless switching between interaction modes.

Positive user study results validating the interface.

Abstract

Sophisticated 3D visualization applications usually provide coordinated 2D and 3D views. Normally 3D input device is used for 3D tasks since they perform better than traditional 2D input devices. However, they do not perform better for 2D tasks. This paper presents a bimanual hybrid user interface that supports four interaction modes: a dual 6-degree-of-freedom (DOF) input device mode, a dual planar constrained 3DOF input device mode, a dual 2-finger multi-touch mode, and 3D hand and finger gestures. The application is a multi-dimensional visualization with coordinated 3D and 2D views on a desktop VR system. The input devices are buttonballs with seamless switching between 3D and 2D device modes, as well as between free-hand finger input and device usage. The 3D and 2D device mode switch automatically switches a buttonball's visual representation between a 3D cursor and a 2D cursor while changing the available user interaction techniques between 3D and 2D interaction techniques to interact with the coordinated views. The paper also provides two formal user studies to evaluate HyFinBall for various dimensional tasks, including 3D, 2D, and cross-dimensional tasks. Our experimental results show the benefits of the HyFinBall interface for cross-dimensional tasks that require 3D and 2D interactions.