The Difficulties in Usability Testing of 3-Dimensional Software Applying Eye-Tracking Methodology - Presented via Two Case Studies of Evaluation of Digital Human Modelling Software

Eye-tracking based usability testing methods today are very accepted by researchers. These methods are ones of the most commons in human-computer interaction. There are various types of applications of these methods in software or web usability area, however, there is a difficulty during usability tests with the 3D environment. The problem is occurred when the participant wants to rotate, zoom or move the 3D space. In these cases, the gaze plots, the heatmaps, or the statistics of Area of Interests (AOI) cannot be used regarding the 3D workspace. The data on the menu bar is interpretable, however, on the 3D environment hardly or not at all. In our research, we tested ViveLab and Jack Digital Human Modelling (DHM) software knowing the mentioned problem. Our goal was dual. Firstly, with this usability tests, we wanted to detect the issues in the software. Secondly, we tested the utility of a new methodology which was included the tests. At one point of the usability test, the participants was asked not to move the 3D space, while they had to perform the given tasks. Several methods were used to locate the usability problems of the software. During the tests, we applied eye-tracking method, and after that, each participant was interviewed. Based on the experiences of this research, we can advise future researchers testing similar products. This methodology is useful, and applicable in other related usability tests, and its visualisation techniques for one or more participants are interpretable.