FiberClay [1] also lets users display and interact with 3D trajectories through virtual reality. This is the first visualization tool that provides selections of 3D trajectories "with a bi-manual, iterative, brushing technique and continuous navigation between visual configurations". The authors of this system took into account trajectories visualization and virtual reality considerations to develop an appropriate visualization tool. Fiberclay was used to explore data air traffic. Interactions with data let the user identify anamolies and unusual trajectories in a better way than 2D exploration did.
The project also explores the implementation of bundling algorithms to simplify the dataset. Finally, the paper alludes to the pros and cons of 2D vs 3D exploration systems.
[1] C. Hurter, N. H. Riche, S. M. Drucker, M. Cordeil, R. Alligier, and R. Vuillemot, “FiberClay: Sculpting Three Dimensional Trajectories to Reveal Structural Insights,” p. 11.
ImAxes [2] is a multidimensional data visualization system that allows the user to build 2D and 3D visualizations with embodied interaction in VR. In ImAxes, a user can make multidimensional queries by connecting and linking visualizations, but does not provide direct manipulations to select data.
[2] M. Cordeil, A. Cunningham, T. Dwyer, B. Thomas, and K. Marriott, “ImAxes: Immersive Axes as Embodied Affordances for Interactive Multivariate Data Visualisation,” 2017.
AR-CANVAS [3] explores the augmented reality canvas for information visualization.
[3] B. Bach, R. Sicat, H. Pfister, and A. Quigley, “Drawing into the AR-CANVAS: Designing Embedded Visualizations for Augmented Reality,” p. 5.
The DXR toolkit [4] provides 2D tools to display graphs in an immersive environment.
[4] “DXR: A Toolkit for Building Immersive Data Visualizations.” [Online]. Available: https://sites.google.com/view/dxr-vis. [Accessed: 07-Jan-2019].
Reference [5] provides an introduction to Unity through some little game projects. Optimization of the game and the scenes, collision management, interaction with the virtual environment and user interface are some points which are discussed in this reference.
In his book on VR development with Unity [6], A. Cardinale provides aspects of the history of VR technology and equipment. He uses the Google SDK to introduce the reader to a VR project with Unity. Some explanations and good practices to follow are explained regarding user interface and use of controllers. It also recalls the 5 fundamental rules of ergonomics and immersion to follow in a VR project to avoid motion sickness and enhance the immersive experience:
Ergonomics rules
- Use a reticle in the center of the screen
- Avoid eye fatigue through proper 3D rendering
- Use a constant movement speed
- Put markers on the ground
- Implement proper head tracking
Immersion rules
- Lead the user with light
- Use ackground and scale
- Create a sound universe
- Interact through looking at objects
- Do not disregard visual aspects
[5] A. Cardinale, Créez des jeux de A à Z avec Unity: bases et jeux mobiles. Paris: D-BookeR éditions, 2015.
[6] A. Cardinale, Développer des applis innovantes avec Unity: réalité virtuelle et réalité augmentée. Anzin: D-Booker éditions, 2017.
S. Few's blog [7] tackles the application of Virtual Reality in data visualization. According to him, there is no advantage of using VR visualization instead of 2D tools to display abstract data. Moreover, it could even be counterproductive for data analysis.
[7] “Visual Business Intelligence – So Far, VR-Enabled Data Visualization is Nonsense.” [Online]. Available: http://www.perceptualedge.com/blog/?p=2865. [Accessed: 07-Jan-2019].
With IATK [8], it is possible to create data visualizations and interact with data in V/AR through extensive use of projections on 2D planes.
[8] M. Cordeil, Immersive Analytics Toolkit. Contribute to MaximeCordeil/IATK development by creating an account on GitHub. 2018.
[9] M. Pahud and N. Riche, “(71) Applicant: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING , LLC , Redmond, WA,” p. 29.
[10] “US20180364808A1.pdf.” .
The paper [11] reviews several approaches to visualize the Web, its structure, the searches on the Web, the users and the evolution of a website.
[11] S. Benford et al., “Three dimensional visualization of the World Wide Web,” ACM Computing Surveys, vol. 31, no. 4es, pp. 25-es, Dec. 1999.
The results presented in reference [12] show that users recall data shown with node-link-group diagrams better than data shown with node-link diagrams. Users also spent more time exploring NLG diagrams than NL diagrams.
[12] B. Saket, C. Scheidegger, S. G. Kobourov, and K. Börner, “Map-based Visualizations Increase Recall Accuracy of Data,” Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 441–450, Jun. 2015.
[13] P. Mindek, M. E. Gröller, and S. Bruckner, “Managing Spatial Selections With Contextual Snapshots: Managing Spatial Selections With Contextual Snapshots,” Computer Graphics Forum, vol. 33, no. 8, pp. 132–144, Dec. 2014.
[14] L. Yu, K. Efstathiou, P. Isenberg, and T. Isenberg, “CAST: Effective and Efficient User Interaction for Context-Aware Selection in 3D Particle Clouds,” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 886–895, Jan. 2016.
Model of directness in spatial interaction with visualization.
[15] S. Bruckner, T. Isenberg, T. Ropinski, and A. Wiebel, “A Model of Spatial Directness in Interactive Visualization,” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, pp. 1–1, 2018.
B. Bach's "The Hologram in My Hand" [16] presents a comparison of several visualization environments used for 3D exploration:
- Augmented-reality head-mounted headset
- Handheld tablet
- Desktop setup
The results of this paper show that each environment is efficient for specific tasks, but that overall, a desktop setup stays faster and more precise for data analysis.
[16] B. Bach, R. Sicat, J. Beyer, M. Cordeil, and H. Pfister, “The Hologram in My Hand: How Effective is Interactive Exploration of 3D Visualizations in Immersive Tangible Augmented Reality?,” IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, vol. PP, Jan. 2018.
[17] “insight3d - opensource image based 3d modeling software.” [Online]. Available: http://insight3d.sourceforge.net/. [Accessed: 07-Jan-2019].
Reference [18] provides a geometric introduction to the LDA technique. This method allows to reduce the dimension of a dataset while keeping most of the information.
[18] “A Geometric Intuition for LDA.” [Online]. Available: https://omarshehata.github.io/lda-explorable/. [Accessed: 07-Jan-2019].
Reference [19] creates an immersive graph visualization with virtual reality. This paper explores the point of view immersed in a graph and how to deform the layout to better explore it. Main contributions of this work are:
- "3 graph layout algorithms for the surface of a sphere"
- "A spherical edge routing and bundling approach, to be viewed from the inside"
- "An application of line rendering techniques from scientific visualizations to the field of graph visualization"
- "A VR interaction paradigm for graph visualization"
[19] Oh-Hyun Kwon, C. Muelder, Kyungwon Lee, and Kwan-Liu Ma, “Spherical layout and rendering methods for immersive graph visualization,” in 2015 IEEE Pacific Visualization Symposium (PacificVis), Hangzhou, China, 2015, pp. 63–67.
[20] “Bresenham’s Algorithm for 3-D Line Drawing,” GeeksforGeeks, 15-Jul-2018.
[21] Board To Bits Games, Procedural Mesh Tutorial, Part 1: Mesh Basics.