1. 2D or 3D ? Presented by Xu Liu, Ming Luo

2. Is 3D always better than 2D? NO!

3. Is 2D always better than 3D? NO!

4. Preliminary conclusion 2D & 3D play their roles better in their own fields 2D better in information visualization and mining Deal with categorical, discrete variables, sparse sampling of real world Focused on discovery of patterns, trends, clusters, outliers, gaps, etc 3D better in scientific visualization Deal with continuous variables, dense sampling of real world Focused on vision impression 3D better in first-person experience Focused on simulation of real world

5. What is for others? Is it better to build an online library with 2D or 3D? Illustrate books with 2D thumbnails? Simulate books with 3D objects? Which one do you prefer when you play FIFA soccer game? Or seeing replays? 2D? 2.5D? 3D? It seems the answer is diverse and depending on different people

6. 2D 3D 2.5D

7. Formulation of the problem The ultimate task is to optimize the whole system Basically, observe subsystem is constant as the human retina functionality The goal is to optimize the system by designing good and well-coordinated world model, understanding, action and feedback functionalities The subsystems are interdependent to each other! observeunderstandworldaction feedback

8. 3D ’ s merit Faithful to reality Naturalistic looking Ecologically plausible Familiar to user Easy feeling Integrate all the information Hope it optimizes the understanding subsystem

9. 3D ’ s drawback Sometimes hard to understand Sometimes hard to operate

10. 3D ’ s drawback Hard to understand Semantic ambiguity from 3D vision  Occlusion  Projection Sometimes user must explore different perspectives to grasp the information

13. 3D ’ s drawback Hard to operate In a pure 3D representation, sometimes, user needs more operations to complete one task  In “ There ”, when a user see a distant shop, she/he must run a long way to reach it  2D buttons or hyperlinks may be much faster to do tasks “ Active World ” provides t eleport They need some training to get familiar with the control system  Someone will get dizzy

14. Enhanced 3D v.s. 3D reality Enhanced 3D solved some problems of 3D reality presentation, by designing interface more usable Change colors or shapes Group and ungroup components Send objects by email Attach floating labels Go back in time by undoing recent actions Play animations in reverse Dynamic query Teleport instantly

15. Current guidelines for 3D designers Use occlusion, shadows, perspective, and other 3D techniques carefully Minimize the number of navigation steps for users to accomplish their tasks Keep text readable Avoid unnecessary visual clutter, distractions, contrast-shifts, and reflections Simplify user movement and object movement Enable users to construct visual groups to support spatial recall etc

16. Future guidelines for 3D designers Provide overviews so users can see big picture Allow teleportation Offer X-ray vision so users can see into or beyond objects Provide history keeping Permit rich user actions on objects Enable remote collaboration Give users control over explanatory text Offer tools to select, mark and measure

17. Future guidelines for 3D designers Implement dynamic queries to rapidly filter out unneeded items Support semantic zooming and movement Enable landmarks to show themselves even at a distance Allow multiple coordinated views Develop novel 3D icons to represent concepts that are more recognizable and memorable

18. How to evaluate? Subjective User satisfaction  Are you happy to use it?  Is the interface convenient? Objective Time to complete tasks

20. Conclusion 2D, 3D reality, enhanced 3D have their own merits and drawbacks 2D is better for information visualization and mining 3D reality is better for scientific visualization and first-person experience Enhanced 3D may be better for software with more general interface, such as web chatting, online shopping, virtual community, games Enhanced 3D needs more systematic standard or guidelines

21. Conclusion Ultimate factor is the user needs But sometimes, users ’ preferences are diverse and even changing One alternative way may be implementing them all and giving user choice

22. THANKS!