Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 13:17:02 -0500 From: "Doug Bowman" Subject: RE: 0GNav In-reply-to: <3D88AFE4.7D94D5A@bellatlantic.net> Sender: To: "Rob King" , "3dui List" <3d-ui@hitl.washington.edu> Reply-to: Message-id: MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Importance: Normal X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 X-Authentication-warning: torch.hitl.washington.edu: majordom set sender toowner-3dui@hitl.washington.edu using -f X-Priority: 3 (Normal) I think this is an interesting problem, and certainly one that hasn't been looked at much in immersive VEs, because most of the virtual worlds we build have a strict sense of up/down due to gravity. I guess it will be interesting to see how users react to the conflicting cues from the physical world (gravity) and the virtual world. In terms of navigation techniques, there is certainly a large design space. You mentioned one natural metaphor (pushing off a surface), and there are others as well. For example, you could use motions like those a swimmer might make to change position and orientation underwater (a low-gravity environment). Or, you could think of using something like a "retro-rocket" metaphor - I fire a rocket out from my torso to translate backwards, or fire one out from my toes in order to pitch down. If you're not that interested in natural metaphors, though, you could do more simple things like using a hand tracker to specify orientation and then use gaze-directed steering for translation. Something that might be a little more reasonable would be to use the head as a rate control device for orientation. In other words, I roll my head to the left to start a roll in the VE, and the speed of the roll is proportional to the amount my head is tilted. I think if you did this you would want to have an explicit rotation mode so that normal head movements would not cause a change in orientation. You could still use gaze-directed steering or pointing for translations. These are just the ideas off the top of my head. Comments or other suggestions? --Doug -- Doug A. Bowman, Ph.D. (540) 231-2058 Assistant Professor (540) 231-6075 (fax) Computer Science bowman@vt.edu Virginia Tech www.cs.vt.edu/~bowman/ > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-3dui@hitl.washington.edu > [mailto:owner-3dui@hitl.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Rob King > Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 12:55 PM > To: 3D UI list > Subject: 0GNav > > > The subject line should be read, "zero Gee nav", as in navigation in a > zero gravity virtual environment. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the > navigation techniques that might be employed. > > We are in the initial planning stage of software development for a > project that involves navigating and interacting in an immersive > environment. We want to collect data concerning physiological responses > to the task of orienting oneself spatially in 3 dimensions, and then > navigating from one location to another. We must choose the interaction > devices and > techniques that will be used. We can assume we have some sort of button > device with 6 DOF tracking. > > Two experiments are envisioned. The first involves orientation and > simple navigation in a virtual room where each wall is textured with a > large checkerboard pattern. The room is rectangular and the walls are > different colors. Subjects will be initialized at an arbitrary position > and orientation. The task will be to navigate to a new position. > > The second involves orientation, navigation and interaction with objects > in a model of the international space station. Interaction is simple, > consisting of 'touching' one or more wall switches in the virtual > environment. > > Training transfer is not an important issue, but we'd like to implement > reasonable techniques. For example, we've all seen pictures of > astronauts pushing off one wall and arresting motion on another. A wall > touch technique based on collision detection comes to mind, but the > control and feedback issues are complex. > > We've got several other ideas, but I'd like to hear your unbiased > thoughts on the techniques that could be applied. > > Thanks 1.0E+06, > > Rob King > Old Dominion Univers