Withindows: A Framework for Transitional Desktop and Immersive User Interfaces

The uniqueness of 3D interaction is often used to justify levels of user fatigue that are significantly higher than those of desktop systems. Object manipulation and symbolic manipulation techniques based strictly on first person perspective are also generally less efficient than their desktop counterparts. Instead of considering the two environments as distinct, we have focused on the idea that desktop applications will likely need to transition smoothly into full immersion through intermediate states. The Withindows framework uses image-plane selection and through- the-lens techniques in an attempt to smooth the movement of both traditional and immersive applications across transitional states such as desktop stereo and multi-display setups. We propose using a virtual cursor in the dominant eye and a reinforcing cursor in the non-dominant eye to avoid ambiguity problems that have discouraged the use of image-plane selection in stereo. We show how image-plane selection resolves non-linear control-display relationships inherent in some approaches to desktop stereo. When combined with through-the-lens techniques, image-plane selection allows immersive viewpoint management and 2 1/2D object manipulation techniques analogous to those on the desktop. This approach resolves global search and scaling problems inherent in prior through-the-lens implementations. We describe extensions for 6 DOF input devices that do not supersede the default interaction method. We developed a single-authored virtual world builder as a proof of concept application of our framework. Our evaluations found alternate perspectives useful but our implementation of viewing windows proved fatiguing to some users.