Menu Selection in Desktop Virtual Reality

Menu systems are a standard interface technique in 2D desktop systems. Using menu systems in virtual reality systems however, is often problematic. In this paper, we present five techniques for menu selection in a 3D desktop virtual reality system: a 3D ray-casting technique, two projective techniques, one technique based on 3D positioning, and one technique based on the standard 2D desktop mouse. The different techniques are compared in a user study. Furthermore, 3D menu location is also considered in the evaluation. The results show that menu selection can very well be performed with 3D devices, provided that the 3D movement is constrained. Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS): I.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism—Virtual reality; H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Representation]: User Interfaces— Evaluation/methodology, Input devices and strategies