Buildable Transforms for Axis Manipulation in 3D Applications Mathew Schwartz Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology, SNU Suwon, South Korea cadop@umich.edu Jaerin Lee Advanced Institutes of Convergence Technology, SNU Suwon, South Korea jaerin3@gmail.com ABSTRACT Use of three-dimensional software has become increasingly accessible to a variety of users and disciplines through technological advances in both consumer products and computational performance. From early on in the development of 3D applications new methods of control were being designed and researched for manipulation directly on or with the object, resulting in a variety of widgets controlled either by gestures or gizmos in the 3D window. Using purely gesture or direct manipulation poses a challenge to fine-grained control, such as what is needed in the field of robotics and mechanics. This paper takes a new approach with controlling transformations, in particular of an axis, that brings a more direct relationship between homogeneous transformations and axis control through an input field type interface. This new interface allows users maximum control and experimentation through using either single values or full matrices. Current robotics tools for education are reviewed. An example of how this new system can be used in the study of kinematics is presented. Both the aesthetic and framework design of the UI element is presented. Validation of the UI is based on a comparison between the current systems flexibility and ability to accomplish complex tasks with minimal effort. Author Keywords Object Manipulation, 3D, User Interface, HCI ACM Classification Keywords D.2.2 [Software Engineering]: Design Tools and Techniques—User interfaces J.6. [Computer-Aided Engineering]: Computer-aided design (CAD)—,H.5.2 [User Interfaces]: Interaction styles (e.g., commands, menus, forms, direct manipulation)—; INTRODUCTION New uses and applications of virtual environments, such as those created in 3D applications, are continuously being found. From the imaginary worlds created in Art and Entertainment, to the simulations of building structures, it is clear that the virtual and real world share aspects that are in some way interchangeable. While this may mean a fantasy world previously unimagined is possible to be visualized, it also allows for important, and even life critical errors, to occur on a computer instead of in real-life. In the education sector, virtual environments can compare to the real world for the understanding of some concepts [7], an important step in the assistance of learning concepts too expensive or dangerous to experiment with in the real world. However, as noted in [7], the success of a virtual environment for the development of conceptual understanding is reliant upon well designed learning tasks that facilitate the goal within the environment. It is the latter, in which the virtual environment must be well designed for a fruitful interaction, that is the main focus of this paper. Specifically, a new user interface element; the breakdown of a homogeneous transform into rearrangeable and stackable matrix components for use in technical fields and environments in which precision and spatial placement is of particular importance to the conceptual understanding. To illustrate the features of the system, the field of robotics is used as the main example throughout, while at the same time, it should be clear how the system as a whole can be implemented in a variety of useful ways. In essence, this work approaches the user manipulation of object position and orientation as a simple homogeneous transformation of an axis. The rotations are reduced to single axis operations and the translations can be entered for multiple axis operations, both of which can be continuously applied in regards to order. The method can be used easily to teach and visualize important fundamental robotics concepts. Additionally, the use of controlling objects in space with transformation operations on an axis makes a universal platform for anyone knowledgeable on homogeneous transformations in that a user does not need to find or understand the manipulator widget settings that differ from program to program. Thorough reviews of the advancement of transformation methods currently exist [11,13], as such, this introduction will focus on the motivation and aspects of transformation methods that led to many of the interactions used in the proposed system, followed by a short review of robotics related tools focusing on axis descriptions in space, and how current systems do not offer the same ability. Related Work Past research into the control of an object has been largely focused on user interfaces that allow for direct manipulation Proceedings of HCI Korea 2016 - 37 - © 2016 Hanbit Media & HCI Korea