Creating and manipulating 3D paths with mixed reality spatial interfaces

Courtney Hutton Pospick, Evan Suma Rosenberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mixed reality offers unique opportunities to situate complex tasks within spatial environments. One such task is the creation and manipulation of intricate, three-dimensional paths, which remains a crucial challenge in many fields, including animation, architecture, and robotics. This paper presents an investigation into the possibilities of spatially situated path creation using new virtual and augmented reality technologies and examines how these technologies can be leveraged to afford more intuitive and natural path creation. We present a formative study (n = 20) evaluating an initial path planning interface situated in the context of augmented reality and human-robot interaction. Based on the findings of this study, we detail the development of two novel techniques for spatially situated path planning and manipulation that afford intuitive, expressive path creation at varying scales. We describe a comprehensive user study (n = 36) investigating the effectiveness, learnability, and efficiency of both techniques when paired with a range of canonical placement strategies. The results of this study confirm the usability of these interaction metaphors and provide further insight into how spatial interaction can be discreetly leveraged to enable interaction at scale. Overall, this work contributes to the development of 3DUIs that expand the possibilities for situating path-driven tasks in spatial environments.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1192757
JournalFrontiers in Virtual Reality
Volume4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2023 Hutton Pospick and Suma Rosenberg.

Keywords

  • 3D path planning
  • 3D user interface design
  • augmented reality (AR)
  • human-computer interaction (HCI)
  • mixed reality (MR)
  • user studies
  • virtual reality (VR)

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