Comparing voodoo dolls and HOMER: exploring the importance of feedback in virtual environments

  • Authors:

  • Jeffrey S. Pierce;Randy Pausch

  • Affiliations:

  • Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA;Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
  • Year:
  • 2002

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Abstract

When creating techniques for manipulating objects at a distance in immersive virtual environments, researchers have primarily focused on increasing selection range, placement range, and placement accuracy. This focus has led researchers to create and formally study a series of "arm-extension" techniques, which dynamically scale the user's arm to allow him to manipulate distant objects. Researchers have also developed representation-based techniques, which allow users to manipulate a distant object by manipulating a copy of it in a handheld representation. However, researchers have not yet formally established the relative value of these techniques. In this paper we present a formal study comparing Voodoo Dolls, a best-practice representation-based technique, with HOMER, a best-practice arm-extension technique. We found that the Voodoo Dolls technique, which provides better feedback by allowing users to view a manipulated object both up close and at a distance, allowed users to both position and orient objects more accurately. Our results suggest that researchers should focus on improving feedback for 3D manipulation techniques