Controlling virtual worlds using interaction spheres

A growing number of Virtual Reality applications is displayed on large-scale screens and the conventional way of interaction by using a physical device like a mouse, space mouse or some control panel is often not the solution really aimed at. This paper presents a very flexible method to control and interact wireless with virtual worlds by defining a workspace around the user. This workspace consists of virtual spheres, which are connected to certain events, such that the user can interact by just moving his hand into these spheres. Within a short and simple learning procedure, the interaction spheres are defined individually for and by each user. Extensions to perform a virtual mouse click and to take the position of the body into account are included.