An Analysis and a Model of 3D Interaction Methods and Devices for Virtual Reality

The growing power of computing devices allows the representation of three-dimensional interactive virtual worlds. Interfaces with such a world must profit from our experience in the interaction with the real world. This paper corrects the early taxonomy of interaction devices and actions introduced by Foley for screen based interactive systems by adapting it to real world and to virtual reality systems. Basing on the taxonomy derived, the paper presents a model for a Virtual Reality system based on Systems Theory. The model is capable of including both traditional event-based interaction input devices, as well as continuous input devices. It is strongly device oriented, and allows to model mathematically all currently possible input devices for Virtual Reality. The model has been used for the implementation of a general input device library serving as an abstraction layer to a Virtual Reality system.