Analysis of User Interactions on 2D and Autostereoscopic 3D Mobile Touch Devices

Abstract

Stereoscopic screens use two separate images with a certain offset between them, in order to create a single 3D image. Research on stereoscopic 3D coupled with a big touch screen, has shown that clicking objects that appear to be in front of or behind the screen introduces inaccuracies. Given a small autostereoscopic touch screen, like in a smartphone, the question arises whether or not this inaccuracy is significant enough for interface designers to take it into account. This thesis uses a series of user experiments to show that basic interaction with applications, on a mobile device with an autostereoscopic 3D touch screen, can be performed about as accurately in stereoscopic 3D as in a 2D version of those applications. The experiments evaluate static objects, moving objects and a more natural interface, both in 2D and 3D. The results show that accuracy is not a significant issue when dealing with a small stereoscopic touch screen.