Balloon Selection: 3D Selections above a Multi-Touch Surface

Precisely and quickly selecting objects in 3D is a difficult task when such objects are small and closely grouped together, such is the case with scaled-down 3D environments (model of a city, university campus, etc.) Balloon Selection is a 3D interaction technique that allows for precise 3D selections in the volume above a tabletop surface by using multiple fingers on a multi-touch-sensitive surface. By decomposing the 3DOF selection task in into a 2DOF task and 1DOF task performed by different fingers, we were able to achieve performance similar to more direct 3D wand interactions, while significantly reducing the error-rate (3x) and hand fatigue.

• Benko, H. and Feiner, S. "Balloon Selection: A Multi-Finger Technique for Accurate Low-Fatigue 3D Selections." Proc. IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces. Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. March 10–11, 2007. pp. 79–86.
  [pdf, mov]

Precise Dual Finger Techniques for Multi-Touch Screens

The size of human fingers and the lack of sensing precision can make precise touch screen interactions difficult. Dual Finger Selections leverage the recent development of multi-touch sensitive displays to help users select very small targets. These techniques facilitate pixel-accurate targeting by adjusting the control-display ratio. A Simpress “clicking” technique reduces motion errors during clicking and simulates a hover state on devices unable to sense proximity.

• Benko, H., Wilson, A. D., and Baudisch, P. "Precise Selection Techniques for Multi-Touch Screens." Proc. ACM CHI 2006 (CHI'06: Human Factors in Computing Systems). Montreal, Canada. April 24–27, 2006. pp. 1263–1272.
  [pdf, mov]

Multi Monitor Mouse: Pointer Warping in Multi-Display Environments

Multi-display configurations are becoming increasingly common, however, such configurations significantly increase the distances that users must traverse with the mouse when interacting with existing applications, resulting in increased time and effort. I am exploring techniques that improve the interaction speed across multiple monitors using common interaction devices (mouse/keyboard/touchpad) while not-modifying existing "standard" interactions within a single screen.
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• Benko, H. and Feiner, S. "Pointer Warping in Heterogeneous Multi-Monitor Environments." To appear in Proc. Graphics Interface '07. Montreal, Canada. May 28-30, 2007.
• Benko, H., Feiner, S. "Multi-Monitor Mouse." In Proc. ACM CHI 2005 (CHI'05: Human Factors in Computing Systems) Extended Abstracts. Portland, Oregon, USA. April 2–7, 2005. pp. 1208–1211. [pdf, mov]
  

Cross-Dimensional Gestural Interaction Techniques for Hybrid Immersive Environments

We have developed a set of cross-dimensional interaction techniques for a hybrid user interface that integrates existing 2D and 3D visualization and interaction devices. Our approach is built around one- and two-handed gestures that are detected simultaneously on the 2D surface and in the 3D environment and thus provide a seamless transition of data between co-located 2D and 3D contexts.

• Benko, H., Ishak, E.W., Feiner, S. "Cross-Dimensional Gestural Interaction Techniques for Hybrid Immersive Environments." In Proc. IEEE Virtual Reality (VR 2005). Bonn, Germany. March 10–12, 2005. pp. 209–116. [pdf, mov]

Collaborative Visualization of an Archaeological Excavation

This system is geared towards creating new tools for remote analysis and exploration of the excavation dig site. This system allows multiple users wearing tracked see-through displays to interact with a virtual 3D model of the dig site (acquired by laser range scanning). The users can multimodally interact in 3D using tracked gloves and speech or explore more traditional 2D data (pictures, maps and videos) on a multi-user, multi-touch projected table surface. more...

• Benko, H., Ishak, E.W., Feiner, S. "Collaborative Mixed Reality Visualization of an Archaeological Excavation." In Proc. The International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2004). November 2–5, 2004. pp. 132–140.
  [pdf, mov]
• Allen, P., Feiner, S. Troccoli, A., Benko, H., Ishak, E., Smith, B. "Seeing into the Past: Creating a 3D Modeling Pipeline for Archaeological Visualization." In Proc. International Symposium on 3D Data Processing Visualization and Transmission (3DPVT 2004), 2004. pp. 751–758. [pdf]

MAVEN - Multimodal Augmented and Virtual Reality Environment for Natural Interaction
(2002-2003)

In a multimodal environment, every input source (such as speech or gestures) has its associated uncertanities. Our multimodal system fuses symbolic and statistical information from a set of 3D gestures, spoken language and referential agents based on SenseShapes technology. The system employs mutual dissambiguation of these modalities to improve the decision making process and demonstrates a powerful interaction mechanism for 3D immersive systems. more...

• Kaiser, E., Olwal, A., McGee, D., Benko, H., Corradini, A., Li, X., Cohen, P., Feiner, S. "Mutual Dissambiguation of 3D Multimodal Interaction in Augmented and Virtual Reality." In Proc. The Fifth International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces (ICMI 2003). Vancouver, BC. Canada. November 5–7, 2003. pp. 12–19. [pdf, divx]

SenseShapes: Using Statistical Geometry for Object Selection in a Multimodal Augmented Reality System
(Spring 2003)

To select an object at a distance can be tricky in augmented reality environment. SenseShapes are volumetric regions of interest that can be attached to parts of the user’s body to provide valuable information about the user’s interaction with objects. To assist in object selection, we generate a rich set of statistical data (both temporal and spatial in nature) and dynamically choose which data to consider based on the current situation. more...

• Olwal, A., Benko, H., Feiner, S. "SenseShapes: Using Statistical Geometry for Object Selection in a Multimodal Augmented Reality System." In Proc. The Second International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2003). Tokyo, Japan. October 7-10, 2003. pp. 300–301. [pdf, divx]

Modeling the Cathedral of the St. John the Divine
(Spring 2003)

Zachariah Munoz modeled the choir section of the Cathedral for our use in augmented reality demos. Since no existing plan depicted correctly the current state of the Cathedral, Zach had to use pictures, 3D range scanns as well as blueprints to accurately model the choir of St. John. more...

Mirage: Conversational Embodied Agent
(Fall 2002)

Mirage is an embodied virtual agent that serves as a simple virtual guide to the lab. Mirage is capable of engaging the user in a simple conversation, maintaining eye contact, informing the user about objects in the lab as well as giving the user a simple news summary (curtesy of NewsBlaster). This system is built using the "constructionist methodology" to showcase that it is possible to create a relatively complex embodied agent system with an inexperienced team of 5 students in just 3 months. more...

• Thorisson, K., Benko, H., Abramov, D., Arnold, A., Maskey, S., Vaseekaran, A."Constructionist Design Methodology for Interactive Intelligences." AI Magazine. Vol. 25, No. 4. Winter 2004. pp. 77–90. [pdf, mov]

RayTracer
(Fall 1999)

This was my project for a graphics class and it implements a simple ray tracing algorithm. Nothing fancy these days, but I like it nonetheless. [avi] more...