Supporting user interface evaluation of AR presentation and interaction techniques with ARToolkit

Usability oriented design is essential for the creation of efficient, effective and successful real-world AR applications. The creation of highly usable AR interfaces requires detailed knowledge about the usability aspects of the various interaction and information presentation techniques that are used to create them. Currently, the expertise in the AR domain with regards to efficient and effective visual presentation techniques and corresponding interaction techniques is still very limited. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to support designers of AR user interfaces with a knowledge-base that covers the AR specific aspects of various information presentation and interaction techniques. This knowledge can only be gathered by evaluating different techniques in systematic usability tests. To make the systematic evaluation of a variety of AR information presentation and interaction techniques viable, we have created a workflow that supports the fast and easy creation of the necessary test applications. The workflow uses well established tools including Maya for 3D modeling, the i4D graphics system for graphics rendering and ARToolkit for tracking, as well as some new custom developments to integrate them into a coherent workflow. This approach enables the creation of the small-scale AR applications that are required for user tests with minimal effort and thus enables us to systematically compare different approaches to common AR user interface design problems.