Tech Report CS-09-06

SurfaceShop: Techniques for Complex Adjustments in Multi-Touch Computing

E. J. Kalafarski

June 2009

Abstract:

Though the commercial application of multi-touch is expanding rapidly, there exists tremendous opportunity for innovation and influencing the development of interaction techniques within this design space. We demonstrate a technique for executing complex and precise adjustments within the medium: rearrangeable “tokens” that exploit the simultaneous interactions, modeless underpinnings, and collaborative nature of the multi-touch environment. Users perform a two-fingered “pinch” gesture directly on these tokens to effect an adjustment in value, allowing for considerable combination and creativity by the user. We implement this technique in an application for image manipulation and evaluate it in a preliminary user trial, which demonstrates surprising discoverability and versatility of our technique and, by extension, the medium as a whole.

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