Gesture-based interaction for a magic crystal ball

Crystal balls are generally considered as media to perform divination or fortune-telling. These imaginations are mainly from some fantasy films and fiction, in which an augur can see into the past, the present, or the future through a crystal ball. With the distinct impressions, crystal ball has revealed itself as a perfect interface for the users to access and to manipulate visual media in an intuitive, imaginative and playful manner. We developed an interactive visual display system named Magic Crystal Ball (MaC Ball). MaC Ball is a spherical display system, which allows the users to see a virtual object/scene appearing inside a transparent sphere, and to manipulate the displayed content with barehanded interactions. Interacting with MaC Ball makes the users feeling acting with magic power. With MaC Ball, user can manipulate the display with touch and hover interactions. For instance, the user waves hands above the ball, causing clouds blowing from bottom of the ball, or slides fingers on the ball to rotate the displayed object. In addition, the user can press single finger to select an object or to issue a button. MaC Ball takes advantages on the impressions of crystal balls, allowing the users acting with visual media following their imaginations. For applications, MaC Ball has high potential to be used for advertising and demonstration in museums, product launches, and other venues.