3D POINTER – VIRTUAL REALITY MANIPULATOR

3D Pointer is a proprietary product of EligoVision.

It is an interactive device which helps you to navigate easily in three-dimensional virtual worlds of your presentations and interact with them.

Now that we hear “virtual reality,” first thing we think of is a head-mounted display (HMD) ot VR helmet, such as Oculus, HTC Vive, or Samsung Gear VR. However, HMD is only a part of the VR system. 

For a deeper immersion in the VR environment one needs a manipulator or a control device to interact with virtual objects of the 3D scene. Besides, large scale immersive VR systems may also consist of multiple screens (like in CAVEs) and then traditional manipulators connected to HMDs become rather useless. 

3D Pointer becomes a universal device.

It's remote and wireless and it has in-built optical tracking system. It's also convenient and easy to use. Having 3D Pointer in your hands, you can move freely in virtual three-dimensional worlds and interact with them.

 

How it works

All modern VR devices provide far more freedom than a conventional computer mouse. Unlike the so-called relative displacement devices (mice, joysticks, trackballs, styluses) VR devices should have enough spatial degrees of freedom (DOF) to allow working with three-dimensional applications without creating additional graphical interfaces.

Degrees of freedom are independent "directions", variables that characterize the state of the system. For example, a point in space has three degrees of freedom, since its state is completely described by three spatial coordinates. Accordingly, at the point on the map of the degrees of freedom there are two - latitude and longitude.A man, for example, needs six degrees of freedom to feel comfortable in the real world.

3D Pointer has five spatial degrees of freedom, and it allows to navigate and control 3D objects in the virtual world, as well as to position the cursor in a 3D space without using additional graphical interfaces. Its position in a space of a 3D computer application is interpreted against its position and orientation in a real space. 

Our special optical tracking system that uses only one camera (a module for recording the optical signal) follows movements, displacement and direction of the tool with extreme precision. It substantially reduces the cost of installing and using systems. A specially designed housing for the optical signal registration module prevents the module from damage. Thanks to the design of the housing, it is easy to calibrate and setup the optical signal registration module before the presentation.

3D Pointer has a huge advantage over any 2D devices. Unlike, for example, a computer mouse or joystick (the principle of operation of which is based on moving x-y coordinates in a flat system), it has a sufficient number of spatial degrees of freedom in order to give a person full control over the 3D virtual world.  

In the video below you can see how 3D Pointer is used to interact remotely with the multiscreen VR system.

 

Using 3D Pointer

Imagine that you are inside a three-dimensional virtual application with 3D Pointer in your hands.

Let's see what you can do with it:

  • move and navigatу freely in all directions and in all planes (forward, sideways, backwards, on land, in water, in the air, underwater, underground, etc.);
  • change the movement speed;
  • point to different objects (you can use any marker avatar — from a laser beam and flashlight to a virtual hand);
  • capture any three-dimensional objects situated at different depths and different sides of the user;
  • move 3D objects in any plane and at any depth of the application;
  • deform the 3D models;
  • manipulate at all levels, from the simplest to the most complex: pressing the "on/off" button, turning the door handle, managing complex devices, cutting with a scalpel, etc.);
  • simulate multiple functions: explosions, fade-outs, disappearances, processes modeling;
  • simulate the usual computer control devices — 3D Pointer can easily work as a computer mouse or a joystick.

3D Pointer gives us unlimited capabilities to control and manipulate with 3D objects. Those, who have already used this new tool, call it a "magic wand". And in some way they're right!