Virtual Hand
Also known as Simple Hand
A direct 3D selection technique where the user controls a virtual hand to touch, grab, and manipulate nearby objects in the virtual environment.
How it works
Move the tracked hand or controller so that the virtual hand overlaps with the target object, then confirm the selection by grabbing, pressing a button, or performing a pinch gesture.
Papers
- Mine, M. R., Brooks Jr, F. P., Sequin, C. (1997). Moving objects in space: exploiting proprioception in virtual-environment interaction. doi:10.1145/258734.258747
- Ferran Argelaguet, Carlos Andujar (2013). A survey of 3D object selection techniques for virtual environments. Computers & Graphics doi:10.1016/j.cag.2012.12.003
- Susu Huang, Daqing Qi, Jiabin Yuan, Huawei Tu (2019). Review of studies on target acquisition in virtual reality based on the crossing paradigm. Virtual Reality & Intelligent Hardware doi:10.3724/sp.j.2096-5796.2019.0006
- Difeng Yu, Tilman Dingler, Eduardo Velloso, Jorge Goncalves (2024). Object Selection and Manipulation in VR Headsets: Research Challenges, Solutions, and Success Measurements. ACM Computing Surveys doi:10.1145/3706417
- Matthias Weise, Raphael Zender, Ulrike Lucke (2019). A Comprehensive Classification of 3D Selection and Manipulation Techniques. Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2019 doi:10.1145/3340764.3340777
- Douglas A. Bowman (1999). Interaction Techniques for Common Tasks in Immersive Virtual Environments: Design, Evaluation, and Application. PhD thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology link
- Jialei Li, Isaac Cho, Zachary Wartell (2018). Evaluation of Cursor Offset on 3D Selection in VR. ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (SUI) doi:10.1145/3267782.3267797
- Gerd Bruder, Frank Steinicke, Wolfgang Stürzlinger (2013). Effects of Visual Conflicts on 3D Selection Task Performance in Stereoscopic Display Environments. IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces (3DUI), pp. 115–118 doi:10.1109/3DUI.2013.6550207
- Dongyun Han, Donghoon Kim, Garrett Woodhouse, Isaac Cho (2026). Beyond Arm's Reach: Revisiting 3D Interaction Techniques for Virtual Display Management in Immersive Workspaces. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics (early access) doi:10.1109/TVCG.2026.3734382
- Eduardo Velloso, Jayson Turner, Jason Alexander, Andreas Bulling, Hans Gellersen (2015). An Empirical Investigation of Gaze Selection in Mid-Air Gestural 3D Manipulation. Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2015, LNCS 9297, pp. 315–330 doi:10.1007/978-3-319-22668-2_25
- Kasım Özacar, Juan David Hincapié-Ramos, Kazuki Takashima, Yoshifumi Kitamura (2017). Target Selection in Head-Mounted Display Mixed Reality Environment: Comparing Smartphone, Gyro-Mouse and Head-Gaze. Interacting with Computers 29(4), 579-591 doi:10.1093/iwc/iww035
- Lucas Joos, Uzay Durdu, Jonathan Wieland, Harald Reiterer, Daniel A. Keim, Johannes Fuchs, Maximilian T. Fischer (2024). Evaluating Node Selection Techniques for Network Visualizations in Virtual Reality. ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (SUI '24) doi:10.1145/3677386.3682102
- Zhiqing Wu, Difeng Yu, Jorge Goncalves (2023). Point- and Volume-Based Multi-object Acquisition in VR. Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2023, LNCS 14142, 20-42 doi:10.1007/978-3-031-42280-5_2
- Doug A. Bowman, Ernst Kruijff, Joseph J. LaViola Jr., Ivan Poupyrev (2004). 3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice. Addison-Wesley, Boston (ISBN 0-201-75867-9)
- Becky Spittle, Maite Frutos-Pascual, Chris Creed, Ian Williams (2023). A Review of Interaction Techniques for Immersive Environments. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics doi:10.1109/tvcg.2022.3174805