A Direct Manipulation Technique for Specifying 3D Object Transformations with a 2D Input Device

A mechanism is presented for direct manipulation of 3D objects with a conventional 2D input device, such as a mouse. The user can define and modify a model by graphical interaction on a 3D perspective or parallel projection. A gestural interface technique enables the specification of 3D transformations (translation, rotation and scaling) by 2D pick and drag operations. Interaction is not restricted to single objects but can be applied to compound objects as well. The method described in this paper is an easy-to-understand 3D input technique which does not require any special hardware and is compatible with the designer's mental model of object manipulation.