We demonstrate the use of the Wii Balance Board™ as a low-cost virtual reality input device. We provide an overview of obtaining and working with the sensor input. By processing the sensor values from the balance board, we are able to use it for both discrete and continuous input, which can be used to drive a variety of VR interaction metaphors. Using continuous input, the balance board is well suited for interactions requiring two simultaneous degrees of freedom and up to three total degrees of freedom, such as navigation or rotation. The discrete input is suitable for control input, such as mode switching or object selection.

The development of domain-specific virtual reality applications is often a slow and laborious process. The integration of the domain-specific functionality in an interactive Virtual Environment requires close collaboration between domain expert and VR developer, as well as the integration of domain-specific data and software in a VR application. The software environment needs to support the entire development process and software life cycle, from the early stages of iterative, rapid prototyping to a final end-user application. In this paper, we propose the use of flexible abstraction layers in the form of a dynamic scripting language, which act as the glue between VR system components and external software libraries and applications. First, we discuss the motivation and potential of our approach, after which we overview related approaches. Then, we describe the integration of a Python interpreter in our VR toolkit. The potential of our integration approach is demonstrated by rapid prototyping features, the flexible extension of core functionality and the integration of an external toolkit. We conclude with an overview of implications our approach has for the future development of new framework features and application integration

Abstract In projection‐based Virtual Reality (VR) systems, typically only one headtracked user views stereo images rendered from the correct view position. For other users, who are presented a distorted image, moving with the first user's head motion, it is difficult to correctly view and interact with 3D objects in the virtual environment. In close‐range VR systems, such as the Virtual Workbench, distortion effects are especially large because objects are within close range and users are relatively far apart. On these systems, multi‐user collaboration proves to be difficult. In this paper, we analyze the problem and describe a novel, easy to implement method to prevent and reduce image distortion and its negative effects on close‐range interaction task performance. First, our method combines a shared camera model and view distortion compensation. It minimizes the overall distortion for each user, while important user‐personal objects such as interaction cursors, rays and controls remain distortion‐free. Second, our method retains co‐location for interaction techniques to make interaction more consistent. We performed a user experiment on our Virtual Workbench to analyze user performance under distorted view conditions with and without the use of our method. Our findings demonstrate the negative impact of view distortion on task performance and the positive effect our method introduces. This indicates that our method can enhance the multi‐user collaboration experience on close‐range, projection‐based VR systems.

In this paper we present a basic set of intuitive exploration tools for the data visualization in a Virtual Environment on the Responsive Workbench. First, we introduce the Plexipad, a transparent acrylic panel which allows two-handed interaction in combination with a stylus. After a description of various interaction scenarios with these two devices, we present a basic set of interaction tools, which support the user in the process of exploring volumetric datasets. Besides the interaction tools for navigation and selection we present tools that are closely coupled with probing tools. These interactive probing tools are used as input for complex visualization tools and for performing virtual measurements. We illustrate the use of our tools in two applications from different research areas which use volumetric and particle data.