
Recent advancements in the field of eXtended Reality (XR) have given rise to a new era of interaction devices and techniques. Exploration and experimentation with eXtended Reality interaction methods has yielded some very interesting ways to interact in immersive environments with the goal of making the user experience (UX) more immersive. Some examples include tracking gaze with eye tracking technology, using neural interfaces to track gestures, camera based hand tracking, and obviously, handheld controllers.
Although eye tracking and neural interfaces might require the least amount of physical effort and seem like the ideal choice, they are both limited in their abilities and often require a good bit of training before you can master them. Hand tracking using cameras and controllers, on the other hand, are far more natural and intuitive as they are similar to using our hands or handheld tools to do things in the real world. For example, grasping a cup of coffee or using a spatula to scramble eggs. In short, hand tracking and controllers allow us to interact with the virtual environment in a way that is more familiar to us. In this article we are going to look at some of the most common devices and methods to facilitate 3D interaction in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) utilizing cameras and handheld controllers.
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