SeeingHaptics: Visualizations for communicating haptic designs

Abstract

Rendering haptic feedback in virtual reality is a common approach to enhancing the immersion of virtual reality content. However, current editing tools allow developers to access the haptic feedback only through physical contact with the actuators, making it difficult to fast iterate haptic interaction designs. This paper introduces SeeingHaptics, an authoring tool which visualizes haptic properties in 3D scenes. The active area of certain feedback is simulated with mesh shapes, while the 2D icons allow for indicating the type of haptic sensation. Our evaluation showed that SeeingHaptics helps developers rapidly create haptic feedbacks after a short training session.