EVALUATION OF WHOLE-BODY NAVIGATION AND SELECTION TECHNIQUES IN IMMERSIVE 3D ENVIRONMENTS

Since 2010 when the Microsoft Kinect with its integrated depth-sensing camera appeared on the market, completely new kinds of interaction techniques have been integrated into console games. They don’t require any instrumentalization and no complicated calibration or time-consuming setup anymore. But even having these benefits, some drawbacks exist. Most games only enable the user to fulfill very simple gestures like waving, jumping or stooping, which is not the natural behavior of a user. In addition the depth-sensing technology lacks of haptic feedback. Of course we cannot solve the lack of haptic feedback, but we want to improve the whole-body interaction. Our goal is to develop 3D interaction techniques that give a maximum of freedom to the user and enable her to perform precise and immersive interactions. This work focuses on whole-body interaction in immersive virtual environments. We present 3D interaction techniques that provide the user with a maximum of freedom and enables her to operate precisely and immersive in virtual environments. Furthermore we present a user study, in which we analyzed how Navigation and Manipulation techniques can be performed by users’ body-interaction using a depth-sensing camera and a huge projection screen. Therefore three alternative approaches have been developed and tested: classical gamepad interaction, an indirect pointer-based interaction and a more direct whole- body interaction technique. We compared their effectiveness and preciseness. It turned out that users act faster, while using the gamepad, but generate significantly more errors at the same time. Using depth-sensing based whole-body interaction techniques it became apparent, that the interaction is much more immersive, natural and intuitive, even if slower. We will show the advantages of our approach and how it can be used in various domains, more effectively and efficiently for their users.