AnyOrbit: Fluid 6DOF Spatial Navigation of Virtual
Environments using Orbital Motion
Benjamin I. Outram, Yun Suen Pai, Kevin Fan, Kouta Minamizawa, Kai Kunze
Keio University, 4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Yokohama

benjamin.outram@gmail.com

1.

PAST WORK AND IMPLEMENTATION

Orbital movement is ubiquitous in CAD software where
it is instantly intuitive and suited to observational tasks [2].
Orbiting was first used with HMDs by Chung et al., where
head orientation controls the angle, and the radius is fixed
or controlled using an input [1]. Tan combined orbiting withflying and other ‘modes’ [3].
Previous techniques confine the user to a spherical surface, however, we position the user on the surface of a torus(figure 1), which allows the control of the horizontal andvertical radii of curvature individually, such that as the user
rotates their head, they move on a spiral trajectory towards
a spherical orbit about any chosen new point-of-interest (thered dot shown in figure 1).
Figure 1: Left: Orbital motion on toroidal surface.
Right: Virtual environment used for evaluation.

2.

EVALUATION

A study of 13 inexperienced users (9 male, age = 25.9 ±3.2) evaluated AnyOrbit for simulator sickness and performance. Users were tasked with navigating between positions
and facing directions in a VE (figure 1) representing camera
angles typical of broadcast sport, in 3 trials of 5 minutes
each. Users averaged 14 ± 8.6 seconds per task. In addition,
an expert user completed tasks in 3.8 ± 1.2 seconds. This
compares to 5 to 11 seconds for average shot lengths in sport
broadcasts. There was a measurable increase in Simulator
Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) scores after the first 5 minutetrial, but no significant increase on subsequent VE exposure.

ABSTRACTEmerging media technologies such as 3D film and headmounted displays (HMDs) call for new types of spatial interaction. Here we describe and evaluate AnyOrbit: a novel
orbital navigation technique that enables flexible and intuitive 3D spatial navigation in virtual environments (VEs).
Unlike existing orbital methods, we exploit toroidal rather
than spherical orbital surfaces, which allow independent control of orbital curvature in vertical and horizontal directions.
This control enables intuitive and smooth orbital navigation
between any desired orbital centers and between any vantage
points within VEs. AnyOrbit leverages our proprioceptive
sense of rotation to enable navigation in VEs without inconvenient external motion trackers. In user studies, we demonstrate that within a sports-spectating context, the techniqueallows smooth shifts in perspective at a rate comparable tobroadcast sport, is fast to learn, and is without excessive
simulator sickness in most users. The technique is widely
applicable to gaming, computer-aided-design (CAD), datavisualisation, and telepresence.

3.

CONCLUSION

We have presented an algorithm for allowing smooth navigation between orbital trajectories in VEs using HMDs, and6DOF navigation and perspective selection. The techniqueis quick to learn and does not cause excessive simulator sickness in most users. The technique is well suited to future
3D sports media formats, storytelling in VEs, and spatial
navigation tasks.

4.

REFERENCES[1] J. C.-M. Chung. Intuitive Navigation in the Targetingof Radiation Therapy Treatment Beams. PhD thesis,Chapel Hill, NC, USA, 1993.
[2] A. Khan et al. Hovercam: interactive 3D navigation forproximal object inspection. In Proc. ACM I3D, pages
73–80. ACM, 2005.
[3] D. S. Tan et al. Exploring 3D navigation: combining
speed-coupled flying with orbiting. In Proc. ACM CHI,
pages 418–425. ACM, 2001.

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For all other uses, contact the owner/author(s).

SUI ’16, October 15–16, 2016, Tokyo, Japan.
c 2016 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).
ACM ISBN 978-1-4503-4068-7/16/10.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2983310.2989195

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