2D/3D WEB TRANSITIONS: METHODS AND TECHNIQUES Eric Deléglise, Diponkar Paul, Morten Fjeld Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden eric.deleglise@etu.univ-savoie.fr, diponkar@student.chalmers.se, morten@t2i.se Keywords: Transition, 3D, 2D, Web, Transition, Buffer, User Interface Abstract: While numerous web applications exploit either 2D or 3D technology, the work presented here suggests that it is feasible to integrate 2D and 3D environments. Besides presenting methods and techniques for realizing 2D and 3D web environments, novel ways of putting corresponding technologies to work are suggested. The prospective user benefits and inherent limitations of realized models are presented in our work. Then the issues that arise when switching between 2D and 3D environments are explored. The background and justification for the three methods and corresponding techniques presented here illustrate how to enable and facilitate a fluent and effective transition between 2D and 3D web environments. While some of the methods and techniques presented are still at a conceptual stage, two techniques have been realized and the findings are presented in detail. A video presentation of realized techniques is offered. Usability of the methods and techniques realized is discussed. 1 INTRODUCTION Ergonomic and functional aspects of visual interfaces greatly affect everyday human-computer interaction. Applying two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) technology to user interfaces is becoming increasingly popular, and designers employ alternative methods for interacting with such environments. Here, we started out with a web application for remote project management drawing on a combination of 2D and 3D web User Interfaces (UIs). This web application offers a wide range of functionality enabling an authorized user to distribute tasks to remotely situated programmers, designers and testers, place access constraints on employees depending on their hierarchical level, upload completed tasks to the system, communicate online, etc. However, this paper focuses on the different methods for developing and realizing technology that has 2D/3D elements and enables users to alternate between 2D and 3D. The validity of such methods relies on the assumption that the smooth transition between 2D and 3D interaction is beneficial in such a 2D/3D web environment. While 2D interaction is particularly helpful when interacting with WIMP (window, icon, menu, and pointing device) elements such as menus and dialogue boxes, 3D interaction can offer a more realistic and familiar user experience. The application presented is modeled on a basic concept blending 2D and 3D interaction. We expect related interactive systems to benefit from this concept. Based on a set of three methods and corresponding techniques, the three main questions motivating our research are as follows. • How can smooth transitions between 2D and 3D be implemented in web applications? • What different kinds of parameters must be considered e.g. usability and interaction capability when working with 2D and 3D technologies for 2D/3D web environments? • Do the methods have sufficient generic quality to be taken over and used by other UI designers? In the following section, related work is described. Subsequently, an outline of the methods that have been used to realize applications is presented including those methods whose applications are in development. Then Table 1 provides a thorough description of techniques for switching between 2D and 3D interaction. The paper rounds off with a discussion and outlook section. A video presents the techniques that have been realized 1 . 2 RELATED WORK Prior research has been done comparing the effectiveness of 2D and 3D user interfaces. On the one hand, as indicated by Massó et al., 2D can be effective for WIMP-based user interface description while on the other hand, a 3D virtual user interface environment is optimal for realistic presentation and behavior. In the STARLIGHT project, Risch et al. used 3D visualization techniques offering a new class of information visualization. Risden et al. compared 2D and 3D visualizations of web content, but did not find any significant differences in user performance or satisfaction regarding the visualizations. Given that web technologies have evolved significantly lately, we found it of interest to re-examine Risden’s results and to realize new methods fusing 2D and 3D web environments. The methods suggested here are intended to help improve user- friendliness in 2D/3D web environments. Moreover, Cockburn and McKenzie compared 2D and 3D versions of Robertson et al.’s Data Mountain and found no significant difference in performance, but the 3D version received a notably higher subjective rating. Ware and Franck conducted a comprehensive comparison of environments and various 3D modes by examining tasks 1 Video presentation: http://www.3de.fr/ihm/index.html