There has been plenty of research into 3D desktops [4] and Sun have recently shown their work [5] but I for one can't really see the ability to spin 2D windows around being of any particular use. Sun put post-it notes on the back of the windows but that means having to remember to look. It could however be an interesting way of hiding complexity but you could do this just as well in 2D.
No, in order to create a 3D GUI we will have to do better than this, the 2D windows will have to become 3D, and that won't work for many applications. In order to create a 3D GUI we will have to forget about the way existing desktops work and think of something completely new.
In the following I describe some ideas for interfaces which could work, this area is pretty much impossible to predict but that's never stopped me before. In the cases below I have tried to find areas where a 3D interface will benefit the application and improve it. This will be the key to a successful 3D GUI, there is not point trying to make a Word processor 3D, it doesn't gain anything (though displaying 3D images may be useful). There are many application areas which I think will gain from 3D and I have described some of these possibilities below.
File Manipulation in 3D
This seems to be the one area where a lot of 3D GUI research has been concentrated on, unfortunately this seems to be a horrendously difficult problem as many seem to end up with a screen full of thousands of files.
I can't see how a command line could be represented in 3D but rather than trying to change a command line into a 3D application it could be augmented with a 3D display of the part of the directory tree, files etc. you are working on. The 3D display would be linked to the terminal display so what is done in one is reflected in the other. File manipulation could be done either by command or by selecting and moving files by hand, you could change directory by dragging a folder from the 3D part onto a terminal window.
The 3D representation could change depending on the commands you are using, you could use "ls" to look at which files are oldest in a text display or you could display them from above as pillars, the shortest would be further away and thus oldest.
Some things would be easier or faster in 3D others in 2D, by displaying both 2D and 3D we will get the best of both worlds.
Sounds with depth
Audio doesn't sound like an area which could benefit from an extra graphical dimension but I think it is one which will benefit more than most. Applications could have controls where moving them would be easier, the mouse is a pain for musicians and many control surfaces exist to supplant it. If a virtual synthesiser is displayed the control knobs could be turned by gripping and then turning them, this means no more mapping from screen to an external control surface so it will be easier and cheaper. To really work properly this will require tactile feedback but this can be done in gloves.
The basic creation of sound could benefit from 3D also, if an synthesiser's envelope generators or filters responses are displayed in 3D they can be manipulated by hand, creating new sounds becomes a whole lot easier. The depth can be additionally used to represent volume so the response can change as volume changes and this too can be manipulated.
The BeOS had a very good demo of mixing in 3D [6] where instruments could be moved around to change their balance and volume. Extending this to a 3D display device would allow the musician to move instruments by hand instead of mouse. Mixing will never be the same again.
An interesting possibility is to move multiple instruments by hand simultaneously, (think about moving multiple chess pieces with an outstretched hand). With a mouse you have to first select all the pieces then move them, a hand will be a much better and more immediate tool for this.
- "Future of Computing, Page 1/4"
- "Future of Computing, Page 2/4"
- "Future of Computing, Page 3/4"
- "Future of Computing, Page 4/4"
