Effects of Hand Occlusion in Radial Mid-Air Menu Interaction in Augmented Reality
Nico Feld, Daniel Zielasko, Benjamin Weyers · 2024
A major challenge in augmented reality applications is the occlusion of virtual objects by physical, real-world objects. Occlusion, however, is a major cue for perceiving the correct depth of objects and whether those are colliding or not. Obtaining an accurate depth perception is especially important for mid-air interactions since misperception can result in low usability. To investigate the effect of hand occlusion in radial mid-air menu interaction, we implemented a model-based method for hand occlusion and conducted a user study (N = 30) where basic mid-air interactions had to be performed with and without occlusion. Further, we were interested in investigating whether the effect of occlusion additionally depends on the interaction method used for the radial mid-air menu interaction, namely pinching or tapping. Contrary to our expectations, our results indicate both positive and negative effects occlusion for the interaction methods on usability. We identify and discuss possible side effects that could have led to these unexpected results.