Improving 3D selection in VEs through expanding targets and forced disocclusion

Abstract

In this paper we explore the extension of 2D pointing facilitation techniques to 3D object selection. We discuss what problems must be faced when adapting such techniques to 3D interaction on VR applications, and we propose two strategies to adapt the expanding targets approach to the 3D realm, either by dynamically scaling potential targets or by using depth-sorting to guarantee that potential targets appear completely unoccluded. We also present three experiments to evaluate both strategies in 3D selection tasks with multiple targets at varying densities. Our user studies show promising results of 3D expanding targets in terms of error rates and, most importantly, user acceptance. ©Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008.