highdensity cursor helps users keep track of fastmoving mouse cursors

1
high-density cursorhelps users keep track of
fast-moving mouse cursors

• patrick baudisch
• edward cutrell, george robertson
• microsoft research
• visualization and interaction research

2
contents

• problem users lose track of cursor
• high-density cursor is not a mouse trail
• related work
• design and more design
• user study hd-cursor makes users faster
• conclusions

3
goals

• with todays large screens and multimonusers
  lose track of the cursor
• high-density cursor solves this problemby
  filling in additional cursor images
• high-density cursor makes users fasterwhile
  having virtually no side-effects
• general insight display frame rate is not a hard
  limit

4
large screens and multimon

• information muralGuimbretière, Winograd
• on large screens optical flow helps navigation
  Tan 2001
• large screens help productivity tasks Czerwinski
  2003
• focus-plus-context screens faster than overviews
  Baudisch 2001
• multi-monitor setups access palette windows in
  Photoshop, CAD Grudin 2001

Jon Peddie ResearchDec, 2002 N6652
5
challengekeeping the mouse working

• longer distances à higher mouse acceleration
• temporal aliasing 500 pixels jumps
• lack of visual continuity àusers lose track of
  the cursor

6
the problem will get worse

• yes, but wont faster computers make this
  problem go away?
• à NO cursor update is limited by screen refresh
  rate
• screen refresh rate has actually decreased (LCDs)
• larger screens lower refresh rate à status quo
• future even larger screens à problem will get
  worse

7
demo
previous cursorposition
current cursorposition
mouse motion
8
this is not the mouse trail
? video

• the windows mouse trail
• makes mouse trail last longer
• drawback cursor images lag behind

• ...is not high-density cursor
• hd cursor makes mouse trail denser
• lag-free mouse stops gt cursor stops

9
benefits
previous cursor position
current cursor position
mouse motion
fill-in cursorscurrent frame
mouse motion
fill-in cursorsprevious frame

• 1. mouse cursor appear more continuous
• à easier to track the cursor
• 2. higher visual weight
• à easier to re-acquire the cursor

10
related work

• acquiring distant targets
• move cursor with eye gaze (Sibert and Jacob,
  2000), Magic pointing (Zhai et al., 1999)
• flick snaps cursor to target (Dulberg et al.
  (1999)
• sticky icons capture cursor (Swaminathan and
  Sato, 1997)
• throwing gets across long distances (Geißler,
  1998)
• expanding targets save space on screen (McGuffin
  and Balakrishnan, 2002)
• drag-and-pop (baudisch et al 2003)
• enhance detectability of the mouse cursor
• ltctrlgt for radar animation (Microsoft, Steve
  Bathiche)
• cursor growth (Kensington Mouseworks 2001)
• mouse trail for slow response LCDs (e.g. MS
  Windows)
• liveCursor points in the direction of its motion
  (Ben Bederson)
• motion blur and temporal supersampling
• reduce temporal aliasing, such as stroboscope,
  e.g. wheel spokes
• rendering a scene multiple times (Dachille and
  Kaufman, 2000)
• improve the perceived responsiveness of graphics
  apps (Conner and Holden, 1997)
• help users anticipate motion (Chang, 1993 Thomas
  Calder, 2001)

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• design

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design goals

• for users who track the cursorenhance the
  predictability of the cursor path
• enhanced trail density/continuous blur
• smooth interpolation of the cursor path
• preservation of trail density as a cue for cursor
  speed.
• for users who reacquire the cursorincrease the
  detectability of the cursor (visual weight)
• enhanced trail density
• enhanced cursor opacity
• and cursor scaling.
• preserve responsiveness

13
designs alternatives
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
frame
acceleration

• reference exponential acceleration

14
designs alternatives
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
frame
acceleration

• motion blur with higher weight

15
designs alternatives
a
b
c
d
chose discreet version 1. latest cursor position
is always shown blur-free and in full opacity 2.
appearance that users are familiar with today 3.
computationally less expensive
e
f
g
h
frame
acceleration

• temporal super-sampling vs. motion blur

16
designs alternatives

• density detectability vs. intrusiveness

17
designs alternatives

• distance between cursor images as cue for mouse
  speed

18
designs alternatives

• smooth interpolation

19
transfer function
distancebetweencursor images
hd cursor has no effect
transfer function(configurable)
cursor trail provides no speed cues
onset threshold (configurable)
mouse speed
20
designs alternatives

• optional cursor growth

21
bezier interpolation
cursor position
1. linear interpolation
22

• user study

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pre-study

• goal define interfaces for user study
• participants 14 coworkers
• informal procedure
• try out high-density cursor
• try out different settings (density, onset)
• choose favorite setting
• resulting interface parameters
• 12-17 pixels/frame vs. 35 pixels/frame
• distance sqrt(n)
• cursor growth on or off

24
user study

• interfaces control vs.high-density cursor
  (conservative, tripleDensity, plusScaling)
• fitts law task
• triple-mon button located at 5 to 40 distance
• participants 7 external participants, 5
  coworkers
• hypotheses
• high-density cursor faster
• the greater the distance thegreater the effect
• tripleDensity and plusScalingfaster than
  conservative

25
results
regular mouse cursor
time relative to regular cursor
high-density cursors
125
250
500
750
1000
target distance (mm)
26
subjective satisfaction

• most participants did not notice that cursor was
  different!did that condition use a different
  mouse acceleration?

27
goals revisited - conclusions

• with todays large screens and multimonusers
  lose track of the cursor
• high-density cursor solves this problemby
  filling in additional cursor images
• high-density cursor makes users fasterwhile
  having virtually no side-effects
• general insight display frame rate is not a hard
  limit

28
thank you!

• try it out Google high-density cursor
• more about motion blur and animationdrag-and-pop
  talk tomorrow 430pm
• thanks to eric horvitz, dan robbinsbrian
  meyers, pravin santiagosteve bathiche, colin
  anthonyjohn pruitt, mary czerwinskigreg smith,
  and desney tan

paid advertisement
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(a) mouse trail
t
mouse motion
(b) high-density cursor
t
mouse motion