10 Familiar Real Life Objects That Could Make VR Controls More Friendly to New Users — [Shape Manipulation]
Do you remember when the first iPhone was released?
Do you remember how it used a lot of literal depictions of familiar physical objects in order to communicate the functions of apps?
Multi-touch tech was just too new for many consumers. So instead of just imitating the menus of simpler cell phones and of PCs, they referenced much older devices too.
And the result was a massive success and a shift of the entire market itself.
What if VR developers took advantage of the same strategy?
What familiar real life objects would help casual consumers to understand the complex new interactions available in the new format?
Well…
1. A Glove Box for a 3D ‘Mouse Pad’.
There’s no need to force the user to reach up in order for them to grab an item. Just have a small cloned version of their entire room-sized work space in their lap in front of them.
But how would a user know that it’s a cloned work space? How would they know to put their hands comfortably in front of them?
Put it all in a glove box like the kind that scientists use to handle radioactive materials.
Even if they don’t recognize this device, it’s still something that one naturally wants to stick one’s hands into anyway (especially with the big empty rubber gloves sticking inside). And once they do, they’ll quickly notice the ‘cursors’ mimicking their moves immediately.
2. A Hoberman Sphere Toy for Zooming In and Out.
If the user wants to expand a 3D object, they could pull on the blue corners of a bounding box around it, like one of those rainbox-colored mechanical toys.
Or if they want to collapse it, they could squeeze on the edges of the box (as shown here).
3. A Bellows for Slightly Zooming In and Out.
If the user wants to expand a 3D object by minor increments, they could tap down on the upper handle of a bellows’ connected to it in order to ‘inflate’ it.
Or if they want to collapse it, they could tap down the lower handle to ‘deflate’ it (as shown here), having the appearance of sucking the air out of it.
And so it performs like two buttons, but buttons that the user doesn’t necessarily need to read in order to understand.
4. A Ship’s Steering Wheel for Rotating.
If the user wants to see the other side of a 3D object, they can simply spin it around at the base.
And while we’re here, we could also have a 2D Hoberman sphere inside it for conveniently shrinking/expanding as well.
5. A Globe’s Frame for Changing the Axis of Rotation.
If the user wants to rotate a 3D object, but not in a standard x, y, or z axis, they could grab the frame in which it sits first.
It could also be in a more cubic shape if/when users are familiar enough with the symbol to still recognize the function...
6. A Box Made of Telescopes for Changing the Height, Width, or Length Individually.
If the user wants to change only some of the dimensions of a 3D object, heightening, shortening, lengthening, thinning, widening, or narrowing, without retaining the same proportions of all sides, they could push or grab the edges of a telescopic box.
7. A Box Made of Marionette Handles for Skewing/Distorting
If the user wants to skew the shape of a 3D object like they would move the limbs of a Pinocchio-style puppet, they could grab and shift the edges of a box made out of wooden planks connected together with strings.
8. Ship’s Anchors for More Controlled Skewing/Distorting/Lengthening/etc.
If the user wants to keep any corners or edges of the bounding boxes in place in while making alterations to other areas, they could attach anchors to the former while leaving the latter unattached.
This could be used for many different types of alterations…
9. A Hand-Crank for Moving Items Around Without Reaching Over To Them.
If the user wants attach or remove something like those anchors, they could do so in much the same way that they would flick a light switch. Simply have a hand-crank attached to the item and the user will immediately understand what turning the crank will do.
10. A Box Made of Rubber Bands for Warping Objects.
If the user wants to make nuanced alterations to the shape of an object, they could do so by grabbing the edges of a rubber-looking bounding box.
They could make small, nuanced alterations with a thin band or large alterations with a thick band…
All Combined and Layered:
Now that we have all 10 of these literally-depicted physical objects from real life, the user can enjoy the most self-explanatory interface possible for 3D shape manipulation.
No need to spend hours learning a new computer’s language when there are enough real life references to easily bridge the gap.
The user can now also make any type of alteration to a shape at any time by reaching over or flicking the switches or pressing the levers.
So now we have a complete system that teaches the user how to handle it implicitly through the design and has multiple options for potential interactions as well!
Until next time, be cool creating and have fun fabricating!
-Sam
