Haptic Editor
Sho Kamuro
The University of Tokyo

Yuta Takeuchi
Keio UniversityKouta Minamizawa
Keio University

Figure 1: Haptic interface to create
and experience 3D haptic content

Figure 2: Creation of 3D geometries
by aerial sketch

Figure 3: Vibrotactile texture obtainedby scanning real object

We propose an interactive editing system for creating
haptic-enabled 3D content by drawing shapes in air and copying
and pasting surface textures. To realize realistic haptic interaction,
we construct the data structure of haptic content composed ofkinesthetic layers and a tactile layer. The user can create touchable
3D models by drawing geometries through aerial sketching, setting
values of compliance and friction of the geometries, and copying
and pasting vibrotactile textures of real objects by using theproposed easy-to-use haptic interface (Figure 1).
1. Introduction
A number of haptic interfaces are proposed thus far. As a next stepfor the popularity of haptic technologies, a creation system forhaptic-enabled content is required. At present, in the market, there
are a number of commercially available visual editors for creatingand editing images or 3D models. In creation of visual content, it isusual to copy and paste colors or visual textures from one place toanother as the eye dropper tool in Photoshop [Adobe Systems, Inc.].
I/O brush [Ryokai et al., 2005] has realized copying and pasting ofvarious visual images from real world to virtual world.
Haptic sensation is an integration of a considerable amount ofsensory information, and therefore it is difficult to design hapticenabled content. In order to realize the construction of realistic
haptic content, some research has been conducted on the haptic
scanning of real objects as WHaT [Lang and Andrews, 2011]; itenables the user to obtain textures by interactively scanning theobjects’ surfaces. However, information gained by scanning reveals
the minimal bumps of surfaces, and the user cannot directly designand check the sensations of touching the content.
In this project, we propose a data structure of haptic contents
for realistic haptic interactions and an editing system for creating
haptic-enabled 3D content. To enable the user to design haptic
content with the use of various and realistic haptic textures, werealize copying and pasting of haptic textures from real world tovirtual world.
2. Method
We have focused on the human haptic perception to generaterealistic haptic experiences. Our proposed data structure of haptic
content is composed of 4 layers. Geometry layer represents
geometries of haptic content. Compliance layer and friction layer
represent distributions of the values of compliance and friction
respectively. These three layers are used for rendering ofkinesthetic feedback. And tactile layer represent a distribution ofvibrotactile textures, which is used for rendering of tactile feedback.
We construct a simple and easy-to-use haptic interface for thecreation and experience of the haptic content (see Figure 1) byintegrating the force-display method we proposed in [Kamuro et al.,2009] and vibrotactile feedback with a voice coil motor. In the*e-mail: {kamuro, yuppon, kouta, tachi}@tachilab.org

Susumu Tachi
Keio University

Figure 4: Use of haptic editor forcustomizable shopping

proposed haptic editor system, to construct 3D haptic content, theuser first draws its geometry by aerial sketching with the device(Figure 2). Shapes are generated based on our sketch-based shapecreation method [Kamuro et al., 2011] and displayed with 3D
images. During this time, the user can set values of compliance andfriction for kinesthetic feedback. Then, the user picks up some real
objects and scans their surfaces with the device for copying their
texture. A microphone placed at the tip of the device is used forrecording the stroking vibrations, which represent the haptic
textures of the surface (Figure 3) on the basis of the technology in[Minamizawa et. al., 2012]. The user can now paste the copied
textures on the tactile layer. When the user directly touches thecontent displayed with 3D images, the contact and friction forces
are calculated on the basis of the physical simulation and areprovided to fingers by translating the grip of the device. Moreover,textural vibrations are provided by the voice coil on the basis of thestroking velocity toward the surfaces. These separated feedback
methods result in the realistic sensations of touching textured
objects efficiently.
3. Application
Our simple editing system provides an efficient and intuitive
development environment for designers of 3D haptic content. They
can design the desired content while editing and experiencing theeffects of such content by using the simple haptic interface. Further,
the users can enjoy creating content with their own hands in theirliving rooms. Such user-generated-content will serve as afoundation for the popularization of haptic technologies in thefuture. One possible example of the practical uses of the proposedsystem is haptic-enabled online shopping. The designers prepare
various types of textures that can be used for customizable products.
The users sitting in their home can select and test their favorite
textures by touching the products virtually via the haptic interface(Figure 4).
This project is supported by JST-CREST Haptic Media Project and JSPS
Fellowships.

References
Ryokai, K., Marti, S., and Ishii, H. 2004. I/O brush: drawing with everyday
objects as ink. In Proceedings of CHI 2005.
Lang, J. and Andrews, S. 2011. Measurement-Based Modeling of Contact
Forces and Textures for Haptic Rendering. IEEE Transactions onVisualization and Computer Graphics, Vol. 17, Issue 3.
Kamuro, S., Minamizawa, K., Kawakami, N., and Tachi, S. 2009. Pen deTouch. ACM SIGGRAPH 2009 Emerging Technologies.
Kamuro, S., Minamizawa, K., Kawakami, N., and Tachi, S. 2011. 3D
Haptic Modeling System using Ungrounded Pen-shaped Kinesthetic
Display. In Proceedings of IEEE VR 2011.
Minamizawa, K., Kakehi, Y., Nakatani, M., Mihara, S., and Tachi, S. 2012.
TECHTILE Toolkit. Laval Virtual 2012 Revolution.
Copyright is held by the author / owner(s).
SIGGRAPH 2012, Los Angeles, California, August 5 – 9, 2012.
ISBN 978-1-4503-1435-0/12/0008