17-03-2014, 10:33 AM
ABSTRACT
MakeVR is an intuitive and accessible digital sandbox for making
3D objects scenes with game-like simplicity for beginners and
with advanced tools for experts. It presents a professional CAD
engine through a natural immersive two-handed interface. Users
reach into space to move themselves through a geometric
playground, placing primitive shapes and more complex objects
into the scene and then reaching out to modify them via booleans,
sweeps, deformation, and other CAD operations. We conducted a
preliminary user evaluation of four participant case studies and
plan to use this evaluation to improve the system.
1 IMPLEMENTATION
MakeVR (Fig. 1) is a software application being developed and
published by Sixense. MakeVR uses two 6DoF Razer Hydra
controllers, Sixense software, the ACIS CAD engine, THI (Two
Handed Interface) Engine [1], a PC, and a display. With just a
few buttons on each controller and a panel (Fig. 1, right) that
floats over the non-dominant hand, the user controls functionality
that can take deep menus and dialog boxes in other programs.
The system can be thought of as a Multitouch modeling system,
but extended into three dimensions, enabling users to translate,
zoom, and rotate in real space rather than on a flat display. See
the accompanying video for a more visual overview.
2 FEATURES
MakeVR provides a natural way to play with and manipulate
space and geometry. Similar to blocks or Play-Doh in real life,
users can combine objects together like LEGO or Minecraft
blocks. But unlike static blocks, users can also change the shape
of objects—stretching, cutting, or combining them into more
complex structures.
MakeVR is an intuitive and accessible digital sandbox for making
3D objects scenes with game-like simplicity for beginners and
with advanced tools for experts. It presents a professional CAD
engine through a natural immersive two-handed interface. Users
reach into space to move themselves through a geometric
playground, placing primitive shapes and more complex objects
into the scene and then reaching out to modify them via booleans,
sweeps, deformation, and other CAD operations. We conducted a
preliminary user evaluation of four participant case studies and
plan to use this evaluation to improve the system.
1 IMPLEMENTATION
MakeVR (Fig. 1) is a software application being developed and
published by Sixense. MakeVR uses two 6DoF Razer Hydra
controllers, Sixense software, the ACIS CAD engine, THI (Two
Handed Interface) Engine [1], a PC, and a display. With just a
few buttons on each controller and a panel (Fig. 1, right) that
floats over the non-dominant hand, the user controls functionality
that can take deep menus and dialog boxes in other programs.
The system can be thought of as a Multitouch modeling system,
but extended into three dimensions, enabling users to translate,
zoom, and rotate in real space rather than on a flat display. See
the accompanying video for a more visual overview.
2 FEATURES
MakeVR provides a natural way to play with and manipulate
space and geometry. Similar to blocks or Play-Doh in real life,
users can combine objects together like LEGO or Minecraft
blocks. But unlike static blocks, users can also change the shape
of objects—stretching, cutting, or combining them into more
complex structures.