VR for Industrial Designers with LEAP Motion

A. Background

V2B stands for VR 2 Biz. It is a term borrowed from the B2B and B2C which are biz 2 biz and biz to consumer. Many of the VR products right now is B2C that individuals play games with it. Also, in terms of creating new objects in the VR, it is B2C products that people love to sketch and enjoy the experience of doodling. The picture below depicts the user case of the drawing in the VR.

In terms of B2B, the VR/AR is combining hand gesture to the VR/AR experience. Another user case would be an auto industry which creates an interior of the car and experience the passenger environment in the VR. The picture below shows the user using a hand to modify 3d object.

B. Accuracy

However, we need an accuracy in terms of modification.  We don’t want a dimension by eyeballing hand gestures. We need something like Autocad that has multiple digit accuracy.

In order to achieve the accuracy with hand gestures, I take a look at the micrometer. Micrometer has a dial system, a thimble and a sleeve. The thimble and sleeve  are assigned to two different scales. Sleeve is set to 0.025 inch and the thimble is set to 0.001inch.  Taking this system, I assigned each finger with different scales to achieve the accuracy.  

Here are the fingers that are assigned to the different scales.

C. 3 Axes – colors

Since the accuracy is achievable, now it needs the three dimensions. Precisely, it needs X, Y, Z. X, Y, Z are color coded with RGB at almost every software. So, XYZ::RGB is set in terms of color. So in the V2B when the axes are changed the light color changes accordingly. 

D. Hand Gestures

Since I am going to use the leap motion and the leap motion gives a distance between fingers, I take a look at the sign languages and made a chart on which distance that I need to consider. I made two versions. One is open-palm starting and the other is fist starting.

E. Feedback.

After presenting to multiple users, people gave me a feedback on the hand gestures. Most of the people understood the 3Axes because it is natural to the engineers. Engineers uses X,Y,Z with three fingers, thumb, index and middle. However, people were confused with the scale. Marek Walczak gave a nice feedback based on his architect background. Using a thumb as positive and pinky as negative. So, I finalized the hand gestures.

F. Development

During the development, I made a wooden stand that I can put the leap motion and the smartphone at the same time. It allowed both hands to work with the leap motion freely also, it allowed me to document the development with the phone camera.

Also during the demo, I found it assigning each fingers with scale creates a hurdle to modify. As a result, I simplified with plus and minus as an intro to the new interface. 

G. V2B.

Here is the final development of the V2B with the oculus and the leap motion.

Pre – AR Test

So, I have been interested in the height of the vision  that I wanted to try the vision at the lower level. So I made the VR with the vision of the dog. I used the fig rig, rope and paper cups.

First , I gave it a test shot with the fig rig. I wanted to cover the fig rig from the Theta’s view.  So I used the paper cups to cover up the fig rig and it made sense that dogs sometimes wear a collar for the medical purpose.

Second, I added a rope to make it more realistic. After the first shot, David suggested the existence of human interaction with the dog. So, he was on the shot with great acting which made the VR in great immersiveness. When I watched it with the Google cardboard, I felt like David is touching on me. I asked Paula to try it and she also said she felt like someone is touching. David brought up a perspective that there is no active will in the experience. It made the user feel passive.

Rotate the Camera View. It starts from the rear view.