Effective Interaction Techniques in Information-Rich Virtual Environments
Jian Chen · 2003
The goal of the proposed research is to examine an effective way of integrating symbolic data, such as text, data, into a virtual environment and to investigate the different interaction techniques. The resulting information-rich virtual environments may be ultimately more useful than traditional virtual environment. To reach our proposed goal, we must understand interaction techniques at a low level and standardize the measurement of performance. Two questions that we intend to answer are: (1) how to embed information in a virtual environment and (2) how to access information within a three-dimensional virtual world. We plan to develop guidelines on the basis of experimental results. Two controlled studies, in the areas of architectural walkthrough and biomedical training virtual environment will be performed. We hypothesize that these two applications will reflect principles and design guidelines for other general applications. 1. Two problem scenarios Immersive virtual environments (VEs) have potential in many application areas, from architectural walkthrough, medical data visualization, to training and education. However, many systems exhibit usability and interaction problems as the environments become more complex. To illustrate these problems I have listed two problem scenarios. 1.1 An architectural walkthrough problem scenario Problem scenario 1 (Figure 1): Mike is a professional designer in architecture. He views architecture in physical form – bricks, mortar, or price while selling and designing a house. In a virtual