CollaborativeConstraint: UI for collaborative 3D manipulation operations

Collaboration in virtual environments (VEs) is important as it offers a new perspective on interactions with and within these environments. We propose a 3D manipulation method designed for a multi-user scenario, taking advantage of the extended information available to all users. CollaborativeConstraint (ColCo) is a simple method to perform canonical 3D manipulation operations by mean of a 3D user interface (UI). It is focused on collaborative tasks in virtual environments based on constraints definition. The communication needs are reduced as much as possible by using easy to understand synchronization mechanism and visual feedbacks. In this paper we present the ColCo concept in detail and demonstrate its application with a test setup.