RodMesh: Two-handed 3D Surface Modeling in Virtual Reality

Abstract

User interfaces for 3D shape modeling in Virtual Reality (VR), unlike basic tasks such as text input and item selection, have been less explored in research so far. Shape modeling in 3D lends itself very well to VR, since the 3D immersion provides the user with richer spatial feedback and depth perception when compared to traditional 2D displays. That said, currently existing 3D modeling applications do not focus on optimizing the modeling interaction techniques for VR, but instead mostly merely port standard interaction paradigms. Our approach utilizes a popular sketch-based surface modeling algorithm in VR by rethinking the user interface in order to benefit from the 3D immersive environment and its inherent support of two-handed input. We propose a bimanual interaction technique that allows users to create 3D models via virtual deformable rods. These rods are bendable into outline shapes that are automatically inflated into manifold mesh surfaces, and can then be incrementally edited to further refine the shape.