Virtual Reality Operating System User Interface

Abstract

New virtual reality (VR) technology has been developed and is reaching a broader consumer-base than ever before. However, no consumer operating system (OS) has been released optimized for VR. In this project, a concept VR OS user interface (UI) was developed, and different interaction patterns were developed and evaluated. Several concept applications were developed and evaluated in user tests. The project resulted in a concept VR UI application with basic OS features such as viewing files and opening programs. The tests conducted suggest that some interactions, such as throwing away programs to close them and opening programs through a hand menu with 3D icons, are efficient. The tests also suggest that new interaction patterns for interacting with legacy 2D applications in VR should be researched.