Towards Usable VR: An Empirical Study of User Interfaces for Immersive Virtual Environments

This paper reports empirical results from a study into the use of 2D widgets in 3D immersive virtual environments. Several researchers have proposed the use of 2D interaction techniques in 3D environments, however little empirical work has been done to test the usability of such approaches. We present the results of two experiments conducted on low-level 2D manipulation tasks within an immersive virtual environment. We empirically show that the addition of passive-haptic feedback for use in precise UI manipulation tasks can significantly increase user performance. Furthermore, users prefer interfaces that provide a physical surface, and that allow them to work with interface widgets in the same visual field of view as the objects they are modifying. Keywords 3D user interfaces, bimanual interaction, virtual environments, virtual reality, passive-haptic feedback

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: CHI
• Authors: Robert W. Lindeman, John L. Sibert, James K. Hahn
• Keywords: CHI 1999, Human Computer Interaction, Immersive Virtual Environment, Low-level 2D Manipulation, Manipulation Tasks