InReach : navigating and manipulating 3D models using natural body gestures in a remote collaboration setup

Abstract

Remote collaboration systems present audio and video representations of separate meeting spaces, but they do not support pointing towards and manipulating content in a shared digital space. InReach explores how remote collaborators can "reach into" a shared digital workspace where they can manipulate virtual objects and data. The collaborators see their live three-dimensional (3D) recreated mesh in a shared virtual space and can point at data or 3D models. They can grab digital objects with their bare hands, translate, scale, and rotate them. We discuss the design and implementation of the InReach system as well as application scenarios such as interior design, visiting virtual cities and studying 3D structures remotely. We report on results from a user study, which compares face-to-face and side-by-side arrangements for a sorting task. The user study demonstrates that different arrangements of collaborators and different level of detail for self-representation do not influence the feeling of co-presence significantly.