Exploring Discrete Drawing Guides to Assist Users in Accurate Mid-air Sketching in VR

Abstract

Even though VR design applications that support sketching are popular, sketching accurately in mid-air is challenging for users. In this paper, we explore discrete visual guides that assist users' stroke accuracy and drawing experience inside the virtual environment. We also present an eye-tracking study that compares continuous, discrete, and no guide in a basic drawing task. Our experiment asks participants to draw a circle and a line using three different guide types, three different sizes and two different orientations. Results indicate that discrete guides are more user-friendly than continuous guides, as the majority of participants preferred their use, while we found no difference in speed/accuracy compared to continuous guides. Potentially, this can be attributed to distinct eye-gaze strategies, as discrete guides led users to shift their eyes more frequently between guide points and the drawing cursor. Our insights are useful for practitioners and researchers in 3D sketching, as they are a first step to inform future design applications of how visual guides inside the virtual environment affect visual behaviour and how eye-gaze can become a tool to assist sketching.