Design and Evaluation of Animated 3d User Interfaces

With the proliferation of virtual environments in real-world applications effective interface design and usability testing for virtual environments becomes increasingly important. Since 3D interfaces are not based on a set of standardized widgets the tasks of user orientation, interface presentation and interaction feedback require special attention during the design of 3D environments. Animation techniques based on cartoon principles can be used to improve the presentation of 3D environments and their interaction possibilities, thus enhancing the usability of 3D interfaces. In this paper we describe a system for rapid prototyping of animated 3D widgets and evaluate a set of cartoon animated 3D widgets in a simple multi user application.