Abstraction of interaction techniques and devices

Abstract

As three-dimensional virtual environments gain in popularity, more and more devices and techniques are being developed to interact with these environments. Developers have no fixed method for choosing the devices and techniques to use in their applications. This thesis presents a tool, ABITID or Abstraction of Interaction Techniques and Interaction Devices, to propose the best matching devices and techniques depending on the developer’s requirements. Ideally, a single choice of device or technique would give a single answer of the best match possible. However, as choosing techniques and devices for an application depends on so many factors, many of which aren’t easily measured, ABITID rather returns a list of possibilities that most closely match the requirements for the application. ABITID is based on the abstraction of interaction techniques and devices into taxonomies. Abstracting devices and techniques gives a better understanding of how they can be matched. From this understanding we propose an algorithm, which matches a particular device with the most appropriate techniques and vice versa. This algorithm is implemented in ABITID, which works upon a self-made database of common interaction techniques and devices.