Publications
カンファレンス (国際) Tunnels vs. Wires: A Comparative Analysis of Two 3D Steering Tasks in Virtual Environments
Mohammadreza Amini (Concordia University), Wolfgang Stuerzlinger (Simon Fraser University), Shota Yamanaka, Hai-Ning Liang (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Anil Ufuk Batmaz (Concordia University)
The 31st ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST 2025)
2025.12.4
Steering involves continuous movement along constrained paths, well-studied in 2D and extended to 3D using the Ring-and-Wire and Ball-and-Tunnel tasks, which are fundamentally different. Yet, prior work often treated them as interchangeable and built upon them accordingly. In this paper, we directly compare the two tasks through a within-subjects user study ($n$ = 18) with varying 3D path orientations. The results show that Ring-and-Wire significantly outperformed Ball-and-Tunnel, with 17.17\% lower task time, 24.16\% higher throughput, and 22.78\% faster average speed. Participants also preferred Ring-and-Wire and reported lower workload. Visual ambiguity, especially near the tunnel's rear surface, complicated the Ball-and-Tunnel task in spatial perception. We recommend future studies choose tasks carefully for 3D steering experiments, as these tasks are not interchangeable.
Paper :
Tunnels vs. Wires: A Comparative Analysis of Two 3D Steering Tasks in Virtual Environments
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