AR Object Layout Method Using Miniature Room Generated from Depth Data

Abstract: In augmented reality (AR), users can place virtual objects anywhere in a real-world room, called AR layout. Although several object manipulation techniques have been proposed in AR, it is difficult to use them for AR layout owing to the difficulty in freely changing the position and size of virtual objects. In this study, we make the World-in-Miniature (WIM) technique available in AR to support AR layout. The WIM technique is a manipulation technique that uses miniatures, which has been proposed as a manipulation technique for virtual reality (VR). Our system uses the AR device's depth sensors to acquire a mesh of the room in real-time to create and update a miniature of a room in real-time. In our system, users can use miniature objects to move virtual objects to arbitrary positions and scale them to arbitrary sizes. In addition, because the miniature object can be manipulated instead of the real-scale object, we assumed that our system will shorten the placement time and reduce the workload of the user. In our previous study, we created a prototype and investigated the properties of manipulating miniature objects in AR. In this study, we conducted an experiment to evaluate how our system can support AR layout. To conduct a task close to the actual use, we used various objects and made the participants design an AR layout of their own will. The results showed that our system significantly reduced workload in physical and temporal demand. Although, there was no significant difference in the total manipulation time.