Generalized trackball for surfing over surfaces

Malomo L., Cignoni P., Scopigno R.

3D  HCI  Interaction  Inspection  H.5.2 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION. User Interfaces 

We present an efficient 3D interaction technique: generalizing the well known trackball approach, this technique unifies and blends the two common interaction mechanisms known as panning and orbiting. The approach allows to inspect a virtual object by navigating over its surrounding space, remaining at a chosen distance and performing an automatic panning over its surface. This generalized trackball allows an intuitive navigation of topologically complex shapes, enabling unexperienced users to visit hard-to-reach parts better and faster than with standard GUI components. The approach is based on the construction of multiple smooth approximations of the model under inspection; at rendering time, it constrains the camera to stay at a given distance to these approximations. The approach requires negligible preprocessing and memory overhead and works well for both mouse-based and touch interfaces. An informal user study confirms the impact of the proposed technique.

Source: Smart Tools and Apps for Graphics - Eurographics Italian Chapter Conference, pp. 89–97, Genova, Italy, 3-4 October 2016

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