Enhancing the Precision of a User's Hand When Sliding on Objects in VR

Interaction in virtual reality (VR) remains a major research challenge, due to the difficulty of accurately reproducing a user’s position, the differences that exist between the virtual and real worlds, and the need to ensure a faster response than in traditional computer systems. Our work focuses on software-based approaches that support the user’s hand running over VR objects. Existing constraint-based methods implemented in game engines result in visible glitches which negatively affect the user’s immersion. To mitigate this, we have developed an easy-to-implement human-object interface based on auxiliary projection shapes. Our method, like other software-centered solutions, does not require any additional advanced haptic hardware; it relies solely on a standard VR headset (HMD) with controllers. The evaluation performed confirmed that our approach allows smooth motion to be attained in a 3D scene without adding additional latency to the VR system. Furthermore, for different projection shapes, different hand behavior on the same 3D object is obtained. As a result, scene designers are offered a simple visual mechanism to manipulate hand motion on 3D objects’ surfaces, enhancing its precision while sliding to create more desirable hand trajectories.