Is a Time-Of-Flight Camera Better than a Mouse for 3D Direct Selection in Virtual Worlds?

Abstract

We present an empirical study on direct selection tasks in virtual environment (VE). The aim is to assess the interest of a new markerless hand tracking system, based on a time-of-flight 3D camera, on a classical mouse, by comparing performances and subjective judgments relatively to utility, usability and immersion. Performances were similar with our system, compared to the mouse, but the perceived usefulness and immersion were judged better. Our system remains lower than the mouse in terms of efficiency and satisfaction. The study reported here, through a simple selection task, demonstrates the interest of this type of camera for real time motion capture. This contribution is a first step and we have to further study more complex task like navigation in virtual environments and object manipulation (moving, scaling, and orientation).