The Bolt-On Two-Handed Interface (THI)

THI now comes in an embeddable form known as the Bolt-on THI. By incorporating calls to the Bolt-On’s C++ libraries in your code, you can add world-class interaction to your own applications.

Hardware

For all 3D operations, THI replaces the mouse and keyboard, wand, and other devices with a pair of tracked hand-held controllers called SpaceGrips.

3D Viewpoint Navigation

The Bolt-on gives you fast, accurate and most importantly general 3D navigation.  Viewpoint manipulation is effected by a simple SpaceGrip button click.  You place yourself anywhere in your data, looking in any direction, and at any scale with just a couple simple and intuitive motions; all this with no foreknowledge of the data.  THI leverages your natural dexterity without the discomfort and fatigue that commonly occurs in mouse, wand, and other interfaces.

3D Object Manipulation

The Bolt-on gives you a pair of tracked hands (two full 6DOF points) that can be used to reach into your worlds to grab your objects and access your 3D tools.  You’re given the pose of the hands and the states of the buttons.

3D GUI Panel

A subsequent release will give you an immersive GUI, a natural way to carry a flexible toolset around with you in 3D.  The panel floats over your non-dominant hand so it goes everywhere you go and you never lose it.  It toggles on and off so it doesn’t get in the way.  The toolbox gives you all the standard widgets – buttons, checkboxes, sliders, you name it – thus completing everything you need to bring superior interaction to your 3D visualization applications.

THI in Action

Follow these video links to see THI in action in our products.  We’ve selected three very different applications that highlight the various aspects of our interface:

• iMedic3D — exploration of volumetric datasets
• InDex – immersive CAD, the most ambitious use of immersive interaction available today
• C2THI – navigation through and interaction with military disaster/response scenarios

THI’s value is not limited to these types of applications.  Virtually every 3D application benefits from superior 3D interaction.  If you’ve ever said to yourself, I wish I could put myself there, or I wish I could just pick that object up, THI is the answer.

Proven Performance

In a major human factors study recently presented at the IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces, THI was shown to be up to 9 times as fast as the mouse and keyboard in carrying out fundamental 3D tasks (and twice as fast as the Wand).

How to use the Bolt-on

We’ll help you to understand how to incorporate the Bolt-on into your application.  You can easily integrate the libraries into your existing code without major modifications.  We provide you with libraries that handle the devices and deliver the information your application needs.  In most cases integration will be simple and quick.   There are a few cases where THI is not appropriate; you will not pay anything in those cases.

What comes with Bolt-on THI?

Bolt-on THI comes with everything you need to add superior 3D interaction to your application:

• C++ Libraries and configuration files
• Documentation
• A pair of SpaceGrips – two hand-held tracked controllers.  Each SpaceGrip has four buttons and Polhemus’ Patriot tracking.  (Note that we also offer other Polhemus options as well as Ascension versions.)  The SpaceGrips plug into a USB port on your computer.
• Software support to get you going

If you think THI’s superior interaction is something your application needs, contact us at info@dartforms.com of fill out an inquiry on our Contacts page.