Interactions in the air: adding further depth to interactive tabletops

ABSTRACT

Although interactive surfaces have many unique and compelling qualities, the interactions they support are by their very nature bound to the display surface. In this paper we present a technique for users to seamlessly switch between interacting on the tabletop surface to above it. Our aim is to leverage the space above the surface in combination with the regular tabletop display to allow more intuitive manipulation of digital content in three-dimensions. Our goal is to design a technique that closely resembles the ways we manipulate physical objects in the real-world; conceptually, allowing virtual objects to be 'picked up' off the tabletop surface in order to manipulate their three dimensional position or orientation. We chart the evolution of this technique, implemented on two rear projection-vision tabletops. Both use special projection screen materials to allow sensing at significant depths beyond the display. Existing and new computer vision techniques are used to sense hand gestures and postures above the tabletop, which can be used alongside more familiar multi-touch interactions. Interacting above the surface in this way opens up many interesting challenges. In particular it breaks the direct interaction metaphor that most tabletops afford. We present a novel shadow-based technique to help alleviate this issue. We discuss the strengths and limitations of our technique based on our own observations and initial user feedback, and provide various insights from comparing, and contrasting, our tabletop implementations

REFERENCES

• 1: Agrawala, M., Beers, A.C., McDowall, I., Fröhlich, B., Bolas, M., and Hanrahan, P. The two-user Responsive Workbench: support for collaboration through individual views of a shared space. In SIGGRAPH. 1997. p. 327--332.
• 2: Bowman, D.A., Kruijff, E., LaViola, J.J.J., and Poupyrev, I., 3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice. 1 ed. 2004: Addison-Wesley/Pearson Education.
• 3: Buchmann, V., Violich, S., Billinghurst, M., and Cockburn, A. FingARtips: gesture based direct manipulation in Augmented Reality. In GRAPHITE '04. 2004.
• 4: Chang, F., Chen, C.-J., and Lu, C.-J., A linear-time component labeling algorithm using contour tracing technique. Computer Vision and Image Understanding, 2004. 93(2): p. 206--220.
• 5: Codella, C., et al. Interactive simulation in a multiperson virtual world. In ACM CHI. 1992. p. 329--334.
• 6: Czernuszenko, M., Pape, D., Sandin, D., DeFanti, T., Dawe, G.L., and Brown, M.D., The ImmersaDesk and Infinity Wall projection-based virtual reality displays. Computer Graphics (1997). 31(2): p. 46--49.
• 7: Davidson, P.L. and Han, J.Y. Extending 2D object arrangement with pressure-sensitive layering cues. In ACM UIST'08. 2008. p. 87--90. 8. Dietz, P. and Leigh, D. DiamondTouch: a multi-user touch technology. In ACM UIST'01. 2001. p. (219--226).
• 8: Dietz, P. and Leigh, D. DiamondTouch: a multi-user touch technology. In ACM UIST'01. 2001. p. (219--226).).
• 9: Favalora, G.E., Volumetric 3D Displays and Application Infrastructure. Computer, 2005. 38(8 ): p. 37--44.
• 10: Fitzmaurice, G.W., Ishii, H., and Buxton, W.A.S. Bricks: laying the foundations for graspable user interfaces. In ACM CHI'95. 1995. p. 442--449.
• 11: Grossman, T. and Balakrishnan, R. Collaborative interaction with volumetric displays. In ACM CHI'08. 2008.
• 12: Grossman, T. and Wigdor, D. Going deeper: a taxonomy of 3D on the tabletop. In IEEE Tabletop '07. 2007. p. 137--144.
• 13: Grossman, T., Wigdor, D., and Balakrishnan, R. Multifinger gestural interaction with 3d volumetric displays. In ACM UIST'04. 2004.
• 14: Han, J.Y. Low-cost multi-touch sensing through frustrated total internal reflection. In ACM UIST'05. 2005. p. 115--118.
• 15: Hancock, M., Carpendale, S., and Cockburn, A. Shallow--depth 3d interaction: design and evaluation of one-, two- and three-touch techniques. In ACM CHI '07. 2007. p. 1147--1156.
• 16: Herndon, K.P., Zeleznik, R.C., Robbins, D.C., Brookshire, C.D., Snibbe, S.S., and van Dam, A. Interactive shadows. In ACM UIST'92. 1992.
• 17: Ishii, H., Ratti, C., Piper, B., Wang, Y., Biderman, A., and Ben-Joseph, E., Bringing Clay and Sand into Digital Design--Continuous Tangible User Interfaces. BT Technology Journal, 2004. 22(4): p. 287--299.
• 18: Ishii, H. and Ullmer, B. Tangible bits: towards seamless interfaces between people, bits and atoms. In ACM CHI'97. 1997. p. 234--241.
• 19: Izadi, S., et al. Going beyond the display: a surface technology with an electronically switchable diffuser. In ACM UIST'08. 2008.
• 20: Kakehi, Y. and Naemura, T. UlteriorScape: Interactive optical superimposition on a view-dependent tabletop display. In IEEE Tabletop '08. 2008. p. 189--192.
• 21: Kakehi, Y., Naemura, T., and Matsushita, M. Tablescape Plus: Interactive Small-sized Vertical Displays on a Horizontal Tabletop Display. In IEEE Tabletop '07. 2007. p. 155--162.
• 22: Lucero, A., Aliakseyeu, D., and Martens, J.-B. Augmenting Mood Boards: Flexible and Intuitive Interaction in the Context of the Design Studio. In IEEE Tabletop. 2007. p. 147--154.
• 23: Malik, S. and Laszlo, J. Visual touchpad: a twohanded gestural input device. In ICMI '04. 2004. p. 289--296.
• 24: Matsushita, M., Iida, M., Ohguro, T., Shirai, Y., Kakehi, Y., and Naemura, T. Lumisight table: a face-to-face collaboration support system that optimizes direction of projected information to each stakeholder. In CSCW '04. 2004. p. 274--283.
• 25: Microsoft, Surface www.microsoft.com/surface/.
• 26: Nakashima, K., Machida, T., Kiyokawa, K., and Takemura, H. A 2D-3D integrated environment for cooperative work. In ACM VRST'05. 2005. p. 16--22.
• 27: Perlin, K., Paxia, S., and Kollin, J.S. An autostereoscopic display. In ACM SIGGRAPH. 2000. p. 319--326.
• 28: ProfessionalPlastic, Acrylite® EndLighten.
• 29: Raskar, R., Welch, G., and Chen, W.-C. Table-top spatially-augmented realty: bringing physical models to life with projected imagery. In ACM Augmented Reality, 1999. (IWAR '99). 1999. p. 64--71.
• 30: Rekimoto, J. SmartSkin: an infrastructure for freehand manipulation on interactive surfaces. In ACM SIGCHI. 2002. p. 113--120.
• 31: Sandin, D.J., Margolis, T., Ge, J., Girado, J., Peterka, T., and DeFanti, T.A. The Varrier autostereoscopic virtual reality display. In ACM SIGGRAPH. 2005. p. 894--903.
• 32: Shoemaker, G., Tang, A., and Booth, K.S. Shadow reaching: a new perspective on interaction for large displays. In ACM UIST'07. 2007. p. 53--56.
• 33: Subramanian, S., Aliakseyeu, D., and Lucero, A. Multi-layer interaction for digital tables. In ACM UIST'06. 2006.
• 34: Tuddenham, P. Tabletop Interfaces for Remote Collaboration. PhD Thesis. 2008. University of Cambridge
• 35: Ullmer, B. and Ishii, H. The metaDESK: models and prototypes for tangible user interfaces. In ACM UIST'97. 1997.
• 36: Underkoffler, J. and Ishii, H. Urp: a luminous-tangible workbench for urban planning and design. In ACM SIGCHI. 1999. p. 386--393.
• 37: Wilson, A.D. Depth-sensing video cameras for 3D Tangible Interaction. In 2nd IEEE Tabletop. 2007. p. 201--204.
• 38: Wilson, A.D. PlayAnywhere: a compact interactive tabletop projection-vision system. In ACM UIST'05. 2005. p. (83--92).
• 39: Wilson, A.D. Robust computer vision-based detection of pinching for one and two-handed gesture input. In ACM UIST'06. 2006.
• 40: Wilson, A.D. TouchLight: an imaging touch screen and display for gesture-based interaction. In ICMI '04. 2004. p. 69--76.
• 41: Wilson, A.D., Izadi, S., Hilliges, O., Garcia-Mendoza, A., and Kirk, D. Bringing physics to the surface. In ACM UIST'08. 2008. p. 67--76.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
3D, 3D graphics, computer vision, depth-sensing cameras, holoscreen, interactive surfaces, surfaces, switchable diffusers, tabletop