Cookies Policy
The website need some cookies and similar means to function. If you permit us, we will use those means to collect data on your visits for aggregated statistics to improve our service. Find out More
Accept Reject
  • Menu
Publications

Publications by Daniel Mendes

2014

ThumbCam: Returning to single touch interactions to explore 3D virtual environments

Authors
Mendes, D; Sousa, M; Ferreira, A; Jorge, JA;

Publication
Proceedings of the Ninth ACM International Conference on Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces, ITS 2014, Dresden, Germany, November 16 - 19, 2014

Abstract
Three-dimensional virtual environments are present in many diffierent applications, being used even in small handheld devices. To navigate in these environments using such devices, most of current solutions rely on multi-touch interactions. However, previous works have already stated that multi-touch gestures on smartphones are not always feasible. In this work we present ThumbCam, a novel single-touch technique for camera manipulation on 3D virtual environments. With our solution, the user is able to move and look around and circle points of interest, while interacting using only his thumb. We compare ThumbCam with other state-of-the-art techniques, showing that it can offer more operations with a single touch. A qualitative user evaluation revealed that users found our solution appealing.

2017

VRRRRoom: Virtual Reality for Radiologists in the Reading Room

Authors
Sousa, M; Mendes, D; Paulo, S; Matela, N; Jorge, J; Lopes, DS;

Publication
PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2017 ACM SIGCHI CONFERENCE ON HUMAN FACTORS IN COMPUTING SYSTEMS (CHI'17)

Abstract
Reading room conditions such as illumination, ambient light, human factors and display luminance, play an important role on how radiologists analyze and interpret images. Indeed, serious diagnostic errors can appear when observing images through everyday monitors. Typically, these occur whenever professionals are ill-positioned with respect to the display or visualize images under improper light and luminance conditions. In this work, we show that virtual reality can assist radiodiagnostics by considerably diminishing or cancel out the effects of unsuitable ambient conditions. Our approach combines immersive head-mounted displays with interactive surfaces to support professional radiologists in analyzing medical images and formulating diagnostics. We evaluated our prototype with two senior medical doctors and four seasoned radiology fellows. Results indicate that our approach constitutes a viable, flexible, portable and cost-efficient option to traditional radiology reading rooms.

2019

Safe Walking in VR

Authors
Sousa, M; Mendes, D; Jorge, JA;

Publication
The 17th International Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and its Applications in Industry, VRCAI 2019, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, November 14-16, 2019.

Abstract
Common natural walking techniques for navigating in virtual environments feature constraints that make it difficult to use those methods in cramped home environments. Indeed, natural walking requires unobstructed and open space, to allow users to roam around without fear of stumbling on obstacles while immersed in a virtual world. In this work, we propose a new virtual locomotion technique, CWIP-AVR, that allows people to take advantage of the available physical space and empowers them to use natural walking to navigate in the virtual world. To inform users about real world hazards our approach uses augmented virtual reality visual indicators. A user evaluation suggests that CWIP-AVR allows people to navigate safely, while switching between locomotion modes flexibly and maintaining a adequate degree of immersion. © 2019 Association for Computing Machinery.

2019

Negative Space: Workspace Awareness in 3D Face-to-Face Remote Collaboration

Authors
Sousa, M; Mendes, D; dos Anjos, RK; Lopes, DS; Jorge, JA;

Publication
The 17th International Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and its Applications in Industry, VRCAI 2019, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, November 14-16, 2019.

Abstract
Face-to-face telepresence promotes the sense of "being there" and can improve collaboration by allowing immediate understanding of remote people's nonverbal cues. Several approaches successfully explored interactions with 2D content using a see-through whiteboard metaphor. However, with 3D content, there is a decrease in awareness due to ambiguities originated by participants' opposing points-of-view. In this paper, we investigate how people and content should be presented for discussing 3D renderings within face-to-face collaborative sessions. To this end, we performed a user evaluation to compare four different conditions, in which we varied reflections of both workspace and remote people representation. Results suggest potentially more benefits to remote collaboration from workspace consistency rather than people's representation fidelity.We contribute a novel design space, the Negative Space, for remote face-to-face collaboration focusing on 3D content. © 2019 Association for Computing Machinery.

2016

Remote Proxemics

Authors
Sousa, M; Mendes, D; Medeiros, D; Ferreira, A; Pereira, JM; Jorge, JA;

Publication
Collaboration Meets Interactive Spaces

Abstract
Virtual meetings have become increasingly common with modern videoconference and collaborative software. While they allow obvious savings in time and resources, current technologies add unproductive layers of protocol to the flow of communication between participants, rendering the interactions far from seamless. In this work we describe in detail Remote Proxemics, an extension of proxemics aimed at bringing the syntax of co-located proximal interactions to virtual meetings. We also describe the role of Eery Space as a shared virtual locus that results from merging multiple remote areas, where meeting participants’ are located side-by-side as if they shared the same physical location. Thus rendering Remote Proxemics possible. Results from user evaluation on the proposed presence awareness techniques suggest that our approach is effective at enhancing mutual awareness between participants and sufficient to initiate proximal exchanges regardless of their geolocation, while promoting smooth interactions between local and remote people alike. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.

2014

Beyond Post-It: Structured Multimedia Annotations for Collaborative VEs

Authors
Guerreiro, TJ; Medeiros, D; Mendes, D; Sousa, M; Jorge, JA; Raposo, A; dos Santos, IHF;

Publication
International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence and Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments, ICAT-EGVE 2014, Bremen, Germany, December, 8-10, 2014.

Abstract
Globalization has transformed engineering design into a world-wide endeavor pursued by geographically distributed specialist teams. Widespread adoption of VR for design and the need to act and place marks directly on the objects of discussion in design reviewing tasks led to research on annotations in virtual collaborative environments. However, conventional approaches have yet to progress beyond the yellow postit + text metaphor. Indeed, multimedia such as audio, sketches, video and animations afford greater expressiveness which could be put to good use in collaborative environments. Furthermore, individual annotations fail to capture both the rationale and flow of discussion which are key to understanding project design decisions. One exemplar instance is offshore engineering projects that normally engage geographically distributed highly-specialized engineering teams and require both improved productivity, due to project costs and the need to reducing risks when reviewing designs of deep-water oil & gas platforms. In this paper, we present an approach to rich, structured multimedia annotations to support the discussion and decision making in design reviewing tasks. Furthermore, our approach supports issue-based argumentation to reveal provenance of design decisions to better support the workflow in engineering projects. While this is an initial exploration of the solution space, examples show greater support of collaborative design review over traditional approaches. © The Eurographics Association 2014.

  • 5
  • 11