Interaction Techniques for Cinematic Virtual Reality

Abstract

For watching omnidirectional movies via HMD, turning the head is the most relevant and natural input technique to choose the visible part of the movie. However, there is a need for additional interactivity in cinematic virtual reality (CVR), e.g. for navigating the movie, for nonlinear story lines or for communication with other viewers watching a movie together. The input device should not disturb the viewing experience and the viewer should not be primarily aware of it. We present a design space based on numerous methods in literature and our own experiences. As a result of the design space we describe interaction techniques which meet the challenges of cinematic virtual reality. For doing this, various dimensions of the design space will be combined. The most promising method, eye-based head gestures, is described in more detail and was implemented for CVR. The conducted user study will be analyzed in future work.