Articulation of Spatial Information: 3D Shapes

Attempting to evaluate 3D virtual interfaces is difficult. It has been argued that this is because we lack a natural and coherent spatial language. If this is true, then the only effective way to convey spatial information would appear to be through specialized mathematically-based geometric modelling techniques, and this may disadvantage general users employed in the evaluation of 3D virtual interfaces. In an attempt to find out if users posses a so-called ‘3D language’, and also, to increase the expressive capabilities of the user, this paper describes the preliminary work and details of an empirical study to find ways to articulate spatial information. Three articulation methods are compared: verbal, pictorial and iconic hand gestures, to determine their effectiveness to articulate spatial information about 3D shapes in a natural and intuitive way. The results from the study may be helpful in empirical evaluations of 3D virtual interfaces.

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