THE-3DI: Tracing head and eyes for 3D interactions

Abstract

Gesture-based interfaces offer a suitable platform for interactions in Virtual Environments (VE). However, the difficulties involved in learning and making of distinct gestures affect the performance of an interactive system. By incorporating computer vision in Virtual Reality (VR), this paper presents an intuitive interaction technique where the states and positions of eyes are traced for interaction. With comparatively low cognitive load, the technique offers an easy to use interaction solution for VR applications. Unlike other gestural interfaces, interactions are performed in distinct phases where transition from one phase to another is enacted with simple blink of eyes. In an attained phase, interaction along an arbitrary axis is performed by a perceptive gesture of head; rolling, pitching or yawing. To follow the trajectory of eyes in real time, coordinates mapping is performed dynamically. The proposed technique is implemented in a case-study project; EBI (Eyes Blinking based Interaction). In the EBI project, real time detection and tracking of eyes are performed at the back-end. At the front-end, virtual scene is rendered accordingly by using the OpenGL library. To assess accuracy, usability and cognitive load of the proposed technique, the EBI project is evaluated 280 times in three different evaluation sessions. With an ordinary camera, an average accuracy of 81.4% is achieved. However, assessment made by using a high-quality camera revealed that accuracy of the system could be raised to a higher level. As a whole, findings of the evaluations support applicability of the technique in the emerging domains of VR.