A study on three dimensional visualization and manipulation of information

该项目的目标是产生一套新的用户界面技术，可用于信息的三维可视化和操作。进行了三个子研究：有序层次信息可视化、CRT和透视式头盔显示器相结合的新型显示系统和基于增强现实的信息管理系统。这些研究的成果被嵌入到我们的3-D用户界面工具包中，该工具包被设计为我们在该项目中的第四个子研究。以下是对这些研究的简要描述1。有序层次信息的可视化提出了一种新的可视化方法--螺旋树，并对其进行了实证评价。螺旋树是圆锥树的一个版本。它可以清楚地指定同一层中有序信息的头部和尾部。研究发现，螺旋树可以减少从信息空间中搜索特定数据所需的时间。结合CRT和透视式头盔显示器的视觉工作空间扩展为了将可视工作空间扩展到3D用户界面，提出了一种将CRT显示和透视式头盔显示器相结合的方法。搭建了原型系统，并对其进行了评估。结果表明，如果正确配准CRT和HMD上的两个视图，该方法是有前景的。利用增强现实技术进行信息管理开发了基于增强现实技术的信息管理系统，以探索三维用户界面和三维信息可视化的可能性，并对三维用户界面工具的设计方案进行评估。三维用户界面工具包的开发我们在整个项目中开发的三维信息可视化和操作工具和技术的框架被汇编到这个工具包中。该工具包加快了具有3D用户界面的软件的开发。

The goal of the project is to produce a set of new user interface techniques that can be used for three-dimensional visualization and manipulation of information. Three sub-studies, a visualization of ordered hierarchical information, a new display system combining CRT and see-through HMD, and a information management system using AR (augmented reality), are conducted. The fruits of these studies are embedded in our 3-D user interface toolkit, which is designed as our fourth sub-study in this project. The followings are brief descriptions of these studies.1. Visualization of ordered hierarchical informationA new visualization method, Spiral Tree, is proposed and empirically evaluated. Spiral Tree is a version of Cone Trees. It can clearly specify the head and tail of ordered information in a same layer. It is found that the Spiral Tree can reduce the time required to search a specific data from information space.2. Extension of visual workspace combining CRT and see-through HMDIn order to extend visual workspace for 3-D user interface, a method to combine CRT display and see-through HMD is proposed. The prototype system is built and evaluated. The result shows that the methods are promising if two views, one on CRT and the other on HMD, are correctly registered.3. Information management using ARThe system for information management using AR technology is developed, in order to explore possibility of 3-D user interface and 3-D information visualization, The system is also used to evaluate design alternatives of 3-D user interface tools.4. Development of 3-D user interface tool kitFragments of 3-D information visualization and manipulation tools and techniques, which we have developed through-out this project, are compiled into this tool kit. The tool kit speeds up development of software with 3-D user interface.