VR Menus: Investigation of Distance, Size, Auto-scale, and Ray Casting vs. Pointer-Attached-to-Menu

We investigate menu distance, size, and related techniques to understand and optimize menu performance in VR. We show how user interaction using ray casting and Pointer-Attached-to-Menu (PAM) pointing techniques is affected by menu size and distance from users. Results show how selection angle – an angle to targets that depends on menu size and distance – relates to selection times. Mainly, increasing selection angle lowers selection time. Maintaining a constant selection angle, by a technique called “auto-scale”, mitigates distance effects for ray casting. For small menus, PAM appears to perform as well as or potentially faster than ray casting. Unlike standard ray casting, PAM is potentially useful for tracked game controllers with restricted DOF, relative-only tracking, or lower accuracy.