Virtual interaction surface: Decoupling of interaction and view dimensions for flexible indirect 3D interaction

2D pointing devices such as mice and touchpads are widely used for 3D interaction. Most existing mapping schemes from 2D input to 3D spaces rely on a ray-casting based technique, where a 3D point of action is specified by the intersection of a 3D `ray´ from the viewpoint and a 3D object in space. While this view-dependent 2D-3D mapping scheme provides an intuitive interaction experience, we are exploring the possibility of mapping with different ways depending on the task. In this paper, we propose a virtual interaction surface (VIS) technique to decouple interaction dimensions from view dimensions. A VIS is an arbitrary shaped 2D surface in a 3D space onto which 2D input is mapped thereby allowing flexible task-oriented 3D interactions. We present the basic concept of the VIS technique, some interaction examples and a prototype system as well as observations from an informal evaluation.