An Intuitive 3D Interface Infrastructure for virtual reality applications

Abstract

This chapter proposes a 3D hand input-based interface infrastructure to improve user experiences for applications in large display virtual reality (VR) systems, such as the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). The interface infrastructure enables the user to interact intuitively with virtual objects in a natural manner without being constrained by any devices and wirings. Complex, clumsy hardware devices which traditionally have to be put on the user are eliminated by the incorporation of a set of hand input-based control schemes. Infra-red (IR) cameras are instead used for tracking hand motions, and two hand gestures based on natural human behaviours, 'grab' and 'drop', are developed as triggers of VR interaction events. Control schemes can be incorporated by different combinations of these two triggers for various applications, and a series of gesture-based schemes specifically developed for forklift truck safety simulation training in CAVE are introduced in this chapter. The interface infrastructure provides the control computer with an ability to understand intuitive human behaviours, relieving the user of the need to memorize complicated machine commands. As such, natural and intuitive interactions with virtual objects can be easily realized. Practical implementation of the interface infrastructure shows that it is flexible and effective for integration with CAVE-based VR applications.