View Changes in Augmented Reality Computer-Aided-Drawing

Abstract

A prototype augmented reality computer-aided-drawing (AR CAD) prototype aimed at supporting a design detailing and review process has been developed. Utilizing head-mounted displays, AR CAD supports users in manipulating design models with two possible view change mechanisms—observer movement around the virtual object (model) or rotation of the virtual object. Previous studies in scene recognition across views of real objects yielded performances that were better under observer movement conditions, than under object rotation conditions. Based on these studies, it is hypothesized that the perception of 3D designs in an augmented scene from the AR CAD prototype is also better when changing views by observer movement than by model rotation. This study presents an experiment to test this hypothesis, so as to address the question of the appropriate mechanisms for view change that best support the perception of 3D designs presented in an augmented reality platform. The findings from the experiment suggest that an individual's perception of 3D designs in an augmented scene from AR CAD depends, in part, on the type of view change, showing that performance was better after observer movement than after model rotation. © 2005, ACM. All rights reserved.