Markerless 3D gesture-based interaction for handheld Augmented Reality interfaces

Conventional 2D touch-based interaction methods for handheld Augmented Reality (AR) cannot provide intuitive 3D interaction due to a lack of natural gesture input with real-time depth information. The goal of this research is to develop a natural interaction technique for manipulating virtual objects in 3D space on handheld AR devices. We present a novel method that is based on identifying the positions and movements of the user´s fingertips, and mapping these gestures onto corresponding manipulations of the virtual objects in the AR scene. We conducted a user study to evaluate this method by comparing it with a common touch-based interface under different AR scenarios. The results indicate that although our method takes longer time, it is more natural and enjoyable to use.