Depth3DSketch: Freehand Sketching Out of Arm's Reach in Virtual Reality

Abstract

Due to the increasing availability and popularity of virtual reality (VR) systems, 3D sketching applications have also boomed. Most of these applications focus on peripersonal sketching, e.g., within arm’s reach. Yet, sketching in larger scenes requires users to walk around the virtual environment while sketching or to change the sketch scale repeatedly. This paper presents Depth3DSketch, a 3D sketching technique that allows users to sketch objects up to 2.5 m away with a freehand sketching technique. Users can select the sketching depth with three interaction methods: using the joystick on a single controller, the intersection from two controllers, or the intersection from the controller ray and the user’s gaze. We compared these interaction methods in a user study. Results show that users preferred the joystick to select visual depth, but there was no difference in user accuracy or sketching time between the three methods. © 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).