Teleporting Windows to Improve Virtual Reality Cockpits

Anonymous

Keywords: virtual reality, window management, immersive headset, empirical studies

TL;DR: An interaction technique for temporarily moving a window in VR to the center of the user's FOV to reduce neck fatigue

Abstract: Virtual reality allows a user to be surrounded by multiple floating virtual screens or windows in a kind of cockpit. Such arrangements increase the user's ability to monitor several windows and quickly switch between windows with rapid eye motions. However, users sitting in a physical chair may suffer from neck fatigue if they fixate an off-center window for long periods of time. We propose an interaction technique for quickly teleporting any window to the center of the workspace, allowing the user to fixate that window with their neck in a neutral position, and later dismiss the window which snaps back to its original position. We present an experimental comparison of (1) a Cockpit whose windows are fixed, (2) a Cockpit with Teleportation, allowing any window to be temporarily moved to the center, and (3) a condition similar to a single Desktop screen where only one window is visible at a time, and a key combination similar to Alt+Tab switches between windows. Teleportation resulted in less neck fatigue than Cockpit, as subjectively reported by users, and was also preferred by a majority of users. We subsequently present a prototype that sketches how to extend teleportation to multiple simultaneous windows.

Track: HCI/visualization