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A freeze-object interaction technique for handheld augmented reality systems

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Abstract

This paper will present an improved freeze interaction technique in handheld augmented reality. A freeze interaction technique allows users to freeze the augmented view and interact with the virtual content while the camera image is still. In the past, the strength of the freeze interaction technique was that it was able to overcome a shaky view by enabling users to experience a comfortable interaction. However, it froze the whole augmented scene. When a virtual object is updating continuously, the real-world view from the camera remains as a still picture until the user unfreezes the scene, thus reducing the real-time augmented reality experience which, to the user, is not attractive enough. To overcome the current problem, a ‘Freeze-Object’ interaction technique has been implemented for handheld augmented reality. The Freeze-Object interaction technique allows the user to interact with a frozen virtual object in a live real-world scene. A comparative user study was conducted to evaluate the ‘Freeze-Object’ interaction technique in a handheld touch AR environment. The Freeze-Object interaction technique was compared with the existing freeze technique in terms of user performance and user preference of the interaction technique. Users were asked to perform three basic manipulation tasks (translation, rotation and scaling) using both interaction techniques. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between both techniques with regard to the translation task and that for the overall tasks, the users preferred the Freeze-Object interaction over the existing freeze interaction technique because the former technique allows users to see live the real-world view with a frozen virtual object. The improved freeze interaction technique can be used for various applications, such as interior design and maintenance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE) under Grant no. FRGS/1/2013/IC701/UKM/0219.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Authors’ Contributions

All the authors contributed equally to this work. The specific contributions are given below:

Shahan Ahmad Chowdhury conducted the research on the handheld AR interaction technique, and designed and implemented the Freeze-Object interaction technique. He designed and conducted the user study and analysed the results. He wrote the manuscript.

Haslina Arshad is the main supervisor of this project. She monitored the progress of the whole research and helped to identify the research gap and findings. She also edited the submitted manuscript.

Lam Meng Chun was involved in the development phase and helped in conducting the user studies and analysing the results.

Behrang Parhizkar is the co-supervisor of this project. He helped to explain the research findings and monitored the progress of the research.

Waqas Khalid Obeidy contributed to the literature study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Information Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

    Haslina Arshad, Shahan Ahmad Chowdhury, Lam Meng Chun & Waqas Khalid Obeidy

  2. School of Computer Science, The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia

    Behrang Parhizkar

Authors
  1. Haslina Arshad
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  2. Shahan Ahmad Chowdhury
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  3. Lam Meng Chun
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  4. Behrang Parhizkar
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  5. Waqas Khalid Obeidy
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Correspondence to Haslina Arshad.

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Arshad, H., Chowdhury, S.A., Chun, L.M. et al. A freeze-object interaction technique for handheld augmented reality systems. Multimed Tools Appl 75, 5819–5839 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-015-2543-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-015-2543-3

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