MultiPoint: Comparing laser and manual pointing as remote input in large display interactions

Abstract

We present MultiPoint, a set of perspective-based remote pointing techniques that allows users to perform bimanual and multi-finger remote manipulation of graphical objects on large displays. We conducted two empirical studies that compared remote pointing techniques performed using fingers and laser pointers, in single and multi-finger pointing interactions. We explored three types of manual selection gestures: squeeze, breach and trigger. The fastest and most preferred technique was the trigger gesture in the single point experiment and the unimanual breach gesture in the multi-finger pointing study. The laser pointer obtained mixed results: it is fast, but inaccurate in single point, and it obtained the lowest ranking and performance in the multipoint experiment. Our results suggest MultiPoint interaction techniques are superior in performance and accuracy to traditional laser pointers for interacting with graphical objects on a large display from a distance.

Vulture

“…Facilitated by improved tracking equipment, mid-air techniques cover many types of interaction. For instance, mid-air pointing enables selection and manipulation of objects (e.g., [2,6,10,28,30]). Writing text in mid-air, however, has received less attention.…”

An investigation of pointing postures in a 3D stereoscopic environment

“…In order to improve the experience of interacting with large amounts of information in virtual environments without losing details, designers are recommended to provide large size displays for remote uses (Vogel and Balakrishnan, 2005). A number of object pointing and selecting techniques for large screens have thus been proposed in the research field of remote control for several years (Banerjee et al, 2012;Jota et al, 2010;Park et al, 2012;Vogel and Balakrishnan, 2005). The hand gesture effects on user's performances (Banerjee et al, 2012) and the provision of arm support to users' muscular fatigue improvement (Park et al, 2012) had been investigated.…”

“…A number of object pointing and selecting techniques for large screens have thus been proposed in the research field of remote control for several years (Banerjee et al, 2012;Jota et al, 2010;Park et al, 2012;Vogel and Balakrishnan, 2005). The hand gesture effects on user's performances (Banerjee et al, 2012) and the provision of arm support to users' muscular fatigue improvement (Park et al, 2012) had been investigated. Relatively few studies have evaluated the performance of pointing methods for remote control in virtual environments.…”

“…Whether different level of muscular fatigue resulted from postures will influence the interaction of 3D targets is also an issue. Banerjee et al (2012) have speculated that less muscular fatigue would result in better performances for participants in the laser pointer using group who could hold their arms naturally than the group being asked to hold their arms at shoulder level. In light of their discussion, we found that there is a need to gather further evidences to compare the muscle fatigue levels of two pointing postures, with and without holding the arm at shoulder level, both in the condition of freehand pointing; in other words, without holding any devices.…”

Design and Evaluation of a Cell Phone Pointing Interface for Interaction with Large Projector based Displays

“…Among the others they include user's body silhouette interaction with the on-screen virtual 3D during his movement [5], new computer interface system based on laser points pattern recognition in beam projection, which can generate five interfacing commands has been introduced in [6], intuitiveness and effectiveness of gestures for free spatial interaction with large displays has been investigated in [7], comparison between laser and manual pointing as remote input in large display interactions has been reported in [8].…”