VXSlate: Exploring Combination of Head Movement and Mobile Touch for Large Virtual Display Interaction

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Virtual Reality (VR) headsets can open opportunities for users to accomplish complex tasks on large virtual displays using compact and portable devices. However, interacting with such large virtual displays using existing interaction techniques might cause fatigue, especially for precise manipulation tasks, due to the lack of physical surfaces. To deal with this issue, we explored the design of \VXSlate{}, an interaction technique that uses a large virtual display as an expansion of a tablet. We combined a user's \headmovement{} as tracked by the VR headset, and touch interaction on the tablet. Using \VXSlate{}, a user \headmovement{} positions a virtual representation of the tablet together with the user's hand, on the large virtual display. This allows the user to perform fine-tuned multi-touch content manipulations. In a user study with seventeen participants, we investigated the effects of \VXSlate{} on users in problem-solving tasks involving content manipulations at different levels of difficulty. As a baseline for comparison, off-the-shelf touch-controller interactions were used. Overall, \VXSlate{} allowed participants to complete the task with comparable completion times and accuracy to touch-controller interactions. However, \VXSlate{} significantly reduced users' time to perform scaling tasks in content manipulations as well as perceived effort after a time of using it. We reflected on the advantages and disadvantages of \VXSlate{} in content manipulation on large virtual displays and explored further applications leveraging the \VXSlate{} design space.