3D Selection Vault

HeadShift

Also known as Head pointing with dynamic gain

Head pointing with pointer acceleration: the head cursor runs ahead of the head during fast turns and slows down for fine positioning, so you turn your head less and select more precisely.

How it works

Instead of a cursor fixed in the display centre and moved 1:1 with the head, a transfer function sets the cursor gain from head movement: an acceleration-driven fast mode (gain up to 1.5, 3.85 or 6.05 in the Low, Medium and High variants) for ballistic turns, and a speed-driven moderate mode (gain 0.5–1.2) for corrections. The cursor may lead the head vector by at most 15°, keeping it within a comfortable eye-in-head range; upward gain is reduced so offsets settle slightly below centre. No target information or mode switch is needed. In a Fitts' law study (N=28, HTC Vive Pro Eye, controller click to confirm) all variants had lower error rates than plain head pointing at similar movement time, and Medium/High needed less head movement; in three VR applications (N=16, Quest Pro) High cut head movement and effort and was preferred by 10 of 16 users.

Papers