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How to make a menu out of the field of view?

FrimyFrimy ✭
in Questions And Answers

Hello,

I want a menu that is always out of the field of view, in the left, except when you turn your head to the left. Then you see it. If you let your cursor on it, it will stay, if not, it will go back out of view in the left.

I tried to modify the Tagalong code to do that, but I don't manage to have what I want.

Do you have pieces of advice?

Thank you in advance.

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Answers

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    stepan_stulovstepan_stulov ✭✭✭

    Hey, @Frimy

    There seems to be no easy way to do this conceptually, since your requirements of the menu behaviour are somewhat mutually exclusive. You want the menu to follow the view but to also not follow it.

    One thing the comes to my mind is the menu should be in these two modes:

    • Not following. The menu follows the user's body/head position but preserves it's own rotation thus not being on the way of the user.
    • Following. The menu follows, perhaps with smoothing, the user's position as well as gaze direction.

    Now the tricky part is not the modes but switching between them without annoying the person. Perhaps you should switch from 2 to 1 when the user turns the head away quickly enough. Certain radial velocity threshold is met and the menu "leaves you alone" and snaps back to the position to the left of you.

    Here is a great, although unrelated to someone's liking, article that could give you some good ideas:
    http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ItayKeren/20150511/243083/Scroll_Back_The_Theory_and_Practice_of_Cameras_in_SideScrollers.php

    Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.

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    FrimyFrimy ✭

    Thank you very much for your detailled answer, it seems to be a good idea and I will implement some stuff to see if it is confortanle. I am going to check the link too. The aim is to have a menu that you can have anytime without permanent UI or vocal, if you have a better idea to do that, I will be glad to have your point of view! :)

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    stepan_stulovstepan_stulov ✭✭✭

    If you use a bluetooth clicker, you can always call a menu on holding the click for sufficient time (maybe showing a radial holding progress bar around the cursor). That way you keep the single click unoccupied and can use it for you normal interactions.

    Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.

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    FrimyFrimy ✭

    I did not know that we could do that, thanks! But unfortunately, I can't use clicker for my project. I would have loved to use bloom gesture, but we can't use it...

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    stepan_stulovstepan_stulov ✭✭✭
    edited June 2017

    I think the biggest problem with this concept is that it kind of implies using one interaction model (turning head around / gaze) for different means. If you use gaze to enable something AND as normal gaze it may feel like something is stuck to your head. Like an annoying fly. Or other effects like "I didn't ask for this". I'd recommend keeping gaze just for that, gaze. And doing activities of different kidns by different means: gestures, voice, stepping onto landmarks, etc.

    I think generally the philosophy of mixed reality is not to return back to old school menus in front of you obscuring the view but to have all the interactive elements there where they belong. So the contrary, get rid of anything that's like a traditional display. Perhaps you could rethink the entire interaction paradigm and get rid of the menu altogether? What are you using the menu for? Perhaps we (the community) can suggest alternative ways.

    Building the future of holographic navigation. We're hiring.

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    FrimyFrimy ✭

    Thank you very much for your help. I agree with your analyze.

    We have a person that will move a lot with the hololens, and we want her to acceed a main menu when she wants to. The menu will contain all that she needs (for instance: button 1- load a cat 3D model 2- launch a kind of skype). I give examples, as I can't speak about the real things (confidential).

    As the person will walk a lot, we can't put the menu in the space and let it there. We can use vocals but we must give the person an alternative. We are not an english country and with the accent and as Cortana is in English only, people find the voice recognition hard.

    So I must find a way to open the main menu when the person wants to. It seems so simple, but with the lack of gestures, it is difficult.

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