Input Device Interface for 3-D Interaction

University of Washington

Abstract

Input Device Interface For 3-D Interaction

(An architecture for incorporating 3-D interfaces for interaction in VRML web-based worlds)

by Sisinio F. Baldis

Chairperson of the Supervisory Committee: Prof. Thomas A. Furness, III

Department of Electrical Engineering

As 3-D interfaces become more prevalent, there is an increasing need to develop and use non-traditional input devices and interaction techniques. VRML has brought screen based virtual environments to the population of web users; however, due its design, it is not possible to use alternate input devices. This thesis proposes and develops an architecture that facilitates the integration of new input devices. This architecture overcomes the shortcomings of VRML and allows for the integration of multiple alternative input devices. A toolkit has been developed to enable the creation of applications using this architecture. Finally, an application is developed using the toolkit to test the efficacy of the system.