3D applications appear in every corner of life in the current technology era. There is a need for an ubiquitous 3D input device that works with many different platforms, from head-mounted displays (HMDs) to mobile touch devices, 3DTVs, and even the Cave Automatic Virtual Environments. We present 3DTouch [1], a novel wearable 3D input device worn on the fingertip for 3D manipulation tasks. 3DTouch is designed to fill the missing gap of a 3D input device that is self-contained, mobile, and universally works across various 3D platforms. This video presents a working prototype of our solution, which is described in details in the paper [1]. Our approach relies on a relative positioning technique using an optical laser sensor (OPS) and a 9-DOF inertial measurement unit (IMU). The device employs touch input for the benefits of passive haptic feedback, and movement stability. On the other hand, with touch interaction, 3DTouch is conceptually less fatiguing to use over many hours than 3D spatial input devices. We propose a set of 3D interaction techniques including selection, translation, and rotation using 3DTouch. An evaluation also demonstrates the device's tracking accuracy of 1.10 mm and 2.33 degrees for subtle touch interaction in 3D space. We envision that modular solutions like 3DTouch opens up a whole new design space for interaction techniques to further develop on.

As tasks in Virtual and Augmented Reality applications become increasingly complex, there is a need to better organize information or virtual objects within the virtual environment. For example, 3D Widget or menus may need to hide information from the user until it is needed. Users may need to organize their own virtual objects or tools by storing them until usage is needed or carry with them to another location. For these scenarios and others, there may be benefits to associating or storing virtual objects in relation to one’s own avatar (Egocentric) or in relation to the other virtual objects in the environment (Exocentric). This paper presents the results of a user study comparing the effects of Egocentric and Exocentric Virtual Object Storage Techniques on cognition in a virtual environment. Participants performed a task that enabled them to store virtual objects using different Virtual Object Storage Techniques. As participants completed their tasks, we measured task and cognition performance. We found that the egocentric technique improves task performance, increases accuracy, and reduces cognitive workload during memory task for virtual object storage in comparison to the exocentric technique in a virtual environment.

To investigate how field of view (FOV) affects how players notice the communicative gestures of their partner's avatar in a musical task, we conducted an experiment that compares several AR technologies with varying FOV. We measured response time to communicative gestures, co-presence score, and task enjoyment in three different AR scenarios: holograms, AR headset, and an AR headset with notifications of the avatar's intention to gesture. Results suggest that the hologram setup had the fastest response time and highest ratings for sense of co-presence and task enjoyment. Notification tasks slowed response time, but noticeably improved co-presence with the avatar.