Intermediation Family: Workspace for Sharing Spatial Design among Multiple Users
Kojiro Tanaka, Masahiko Mikawa, Makoto Fujisawa · 2020
This paper presents a novel workspace for sharing a virtual space among multiple users with tangible interfaces and multiple perspectives. The multiple users can share a virtual space such as a spatial design through first-person perspectives (FPPs) and third-person perspectives (TPPs), and can discuss it while switching between the FPPs and TPPs. The workspace, named the Intermediation Family, is composed of box-shaped movable tangible interfaces, a fixed large display, a simple removable HMD and a computer that makes a virtual space. Since the tangible interface plays as both a user's avatar and a camera object for the FPP in the virtual space, the user can observe the virtual space from the FPP on a display mounted on the tangible interface while moving it. When the user wants a more immersive experience, she/he can also use the HMD. Moreover, the users can observe the entire virtual space through the TPP on the fixed large display. The multiple users can share the spatial design by switching their perspectives and exchanging the tangible interface and the HMD one after another. In this paper, two applications were implemented to hear opinions of some users. One is a virtual walk-through application, the other is a hands-on room layout application.