  Hand gesture is a new and promising interface for locomotion in virtual
environments. While several previous studies have proposed different hand
gestures for virtual locomotion, little is known about their differences in
terms of performance and user preference in virtual locomotion tasks. In the
present paper, we presented three different hand gesture interfaces and their
algorithms for locomotion, which are called the Finger Distance gesture, the
Finger Number gesture and the Finger Tapping gesture. These gestures were
inspired by previous studies of gesture-based locomotion interfaces and are
typical gestures that people are familiar with in their daily lives.
Implementing these hand gesture interfaces in the present study enabled us to
systematically compare the differences between these gestures. In addition, to
compare the usability of these gestures to locomotion interfaces using
gamepads, we also designed and implemented a gamepad interface based on the
Xbox One controller. We compared these four interfaces through two virtual
locomotion tasks. These tasks assessed their performance and user preference on
speed control and waypoints navigation. Results showed that user preference and
performance of the Finger Distance gesture were comparable to that of the
gamepad interface. The Finger Number gesture also had close performance and
user preference to that of the Finger Distance gesture. Our study demonstrates
that the Finger Distance gesture and the Finger Number gesture are very
promising interfaces for virtual locomotion. We also discuss that the Finger
Tapping gesture needs further improvements before it can be used for virtual
walking.
