Touch-enabled haptic modeling of deformable multi-resolution surfaces

Currently, interactive data exploration in virtual environments is mainly focused on vision-based and non-contact sensory channels such as visual/auditory displays. The lack of tactile sensation in virtual environments removes an important source of information to be delivered to the users. In this paper, we propose the touch-enabled haptic modeling of deformable multi-resolution surfaces in real time. The 6-DOF haptic manipulation is based on a dynamic model of Loop surfaces, where the dynamic parameters are computed easily without subdividing the control mesh recursively. A local deforming scheme is developed to approximate the solution of the dynamics equations, thus the order of the linear equations is reduced greatly. During each of the haptic interaction loop, the contact point is traced and reflected to the rendering of updated graphics and haptics. The sense of touch against the deforming surface is calculated according to the surface properties and the damping-spring force profile. Our haptic system supports the dynamic modeling of deformable Loop surfaces intuitively through the touch-enabled interactive manipulation.