JPH05108262A - Pointing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To intuitively indicate a direction on a three-dimensional space at the time of displaying a three-dimensional shape on a graphic display device and performing the operation as to the shape. CONSTITUTION:Data DELTAtheta and DELTAphi to which an input controller 2 converts DELTAx and DELTAy inputted from a two-dimensional displacement input device 1 are processed by a higher-order device 5, and meanwhile; they are converted to a two-dimensional figure, where the direction on the three-dimensional space can be intuitively detected, by an icon display controller 3; and this figure is displayed on a display device 4 and is fed back to an operator.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a pointing device, and more particularly to a pointing device used in a three-dimensional CAD system or a three-dimensional graphics editor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a system for displaying a three-dimensional shape on a display device such as a CRT, the direction from which the shape is displayed (the direction of the line of sight) is instructed, and the coordinate value in a three-dimensional space or Coordinate value movement (displacement)
Alternatively, there is a demand for a simple method for inputting the direction. Instead of entering the position or displacement as a number,
A device for inputting by analog movement of an input device is generally called a pointing device, and as a two-dimensional pointing device, there are two sets of degrees of freedom known as mouse, joystick, trackball, tablet, etc. Popular devices are popular. On the other hand, in the three-dimensional pointing device, a method with good operability for realizing the required three or more sets of degrees of freedom has not been established.

An example of a conventional pointing device of this type is shown in FIG.

In this example, the multidimensional displacement input device 4-1 is provided with six freely rotating dials. When each dial is rotated, the rotary encoder inside the device measures the rotation angle and transmits it to the connected device (three-dimensional display control device 4-2 in this case). Since the 6 dials can be rotated independently of each other, they have 6 degrees of freedom. In the most typical usage, the rotation of this dial is the displacement in the X-axis direction, the displacement in the Y-axis direction,
The displacement in the Z axis direction, the rotation angle about the X axis, the rotation angle about the Y axis, and the rotation angle about the Z axis are made to correspond. (Fig. 4
Then, they are sequentially represented by Δx, Δy, Δz, Δθ, Δφ, and Δρ).

The three-dimensional display control device 4-2 is based on the six sets of data transmitted from the multidimensional displacement input device 4-1.
The line-of-sight direction of the three-dimensional shape displayed on the display device 4-3 is changed (that is, the displayed shape is rotated), and the display surface of the display device 4-3 (in the case of a CRT, a sac surface).
The figure called the upper cursor is translated on the display surface. The operator sees those movements of the display device 4-3, and adjusts the operation of the multidimensional displacement input device 4 device 4-1.

At this time, if the cursor is moved on the display surface, the display can be performed without much burden, but if the direction of the line of sight is changed, the three-dimensional shape has a two-dimensional display surface. Since it requires re-calculation called projection transformation for displaying on the display device, it requires a considerable processing time in proportion to the complexity of the displayed shape. In order to follow the display at a speed close to real time, the three-dimensional display control device 4-2 is required to have extremely high performance.

The higher-level device 4-4 exchanges positional information of the three-dimensional shape of the display object with the three-dimensional display control device 4-2 and operates the three-dimensional C for operating the display shape.
It is the main body of the AD system and the like.

[0008]

The above-mentioned conventional pointing device has the following problems.

(1) Intuitive input to the three-dimensional space is not possible.

(2) High performance (and therefore expensive) equipment (3
Dimensional display controller) is required. On the other hand, when a device with insufficient performance is used, the responsiveness of the pointing device deteriorates.

(3) A device which is not widely used, that is, a multidimensional displacement input device is required.

[0012]

The device of the present invention is a pointing device for inputting a three-dimensional position or displacement used when displaying a three-dimensional shape on a graphic display device and performing an operation on it. A two-dimensional displacement input device for obtaining and outputting two sets of displacement data in the X and Y directions from the amount of movement, and an input control device for converting the two sets of displacement data into two sets of angle information by a predetermined algorithm And an icon display control device for converting the angle information into position information for displaying a bright spot on a figure for indicating a direction in a three-dimensional space drawn on the display device. To do.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

A mouse is used as the two-dimensional displacement input device 1 here. This is such that the entire device can freely move on the surface of a desk or the like, and two sets of displacement data in the X direction and the Y direction are obtained from the amount of movement, and the connected device (here, the input control device 2 ). The two-dimensional displacement input device is easier to operate intuitively than the device described in the conventional example.

The input control device 2 is a two-dimensional displacement input device 1.
2 sets of data are received and converted into 2 sets of angle information by an algorithm described later (indicated by θ and φ in FIG. 4). This angle information is passed to the icon display control device 3 for feedback to the operator.

The icon display control device 3 displays a bright spot (cursor) on the graphic (icon) for indicating the direction in the three-dimensional space drawn on the display device 4 based on the angle information from the input control device 2. Convert to location information for display.

The display device 4 is the same as a display device such as a CRT used for displaying a three-dimensional shape, and when an icon display is instructed by the host device 5 via the icon display control device 3, Display an icon in one corner of the display screen.

The operator adjusts the operation of the two-dimensional displacement input device 1 by looking at the icon and the cursor on the display device 4, and presses the mouse button or the like when the direction is confirmed. The input control device 2 transmits the angle information (θ, φ) at that time to the higher-level device 5 by an event such as a mouse button being pressed.

The host device 5 is a main body of a three-dimensional CAD system or the like for controlling the operation of the pointing device as described above. The mode itself in which the pointing device is used for inputting an angle with respect to the three-dimensional space is controlled, and when this mode is entered, activation of the two-dimensional displacement input device 1 and the display device 4 are performed with respect to the input control device 2. To display the icon, and when exiting this mode, the input control device 2 is instructed to deactivate the two-dimensional displacement input device 2 and erase the icon from the display device 4. The higher-level device 5 also changes the line-of-sight direction (rotation of the display object) and the shape based on the input from the pointing device. Unlike the conventional example, the one that projects and converts a three-dimensional shape for two-dimensional display is also on the upper device side. The projection transformation is only performed on the icon cursor until the mouse button is pressed, so the performance may be relatively low.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the icon.

The basic shape is shown in FIG. It is assumed that four semicircular spheres are drawn with four great circles intersecting at an equal angle at one point. The broken line indicates that the ball is behind the sphere. The intersection of the great circles on the front side is the front. When the front is directly in front of the main body,
The great circles all look straight and have poor visibility, so
I dared to turn slightly to the right. In this example, only one of the four great circles looks straight. In any case, the shape of the icon only needs to be projected and converted once at the beginning, so it can be freely changed according to the preference and the situation.

FIG. 2B shows an example in which coordinate axes are added to the icon of FIG. 2A. Since the length of the coordinate axis is the same as the radius of the sphere, if the user wants to indicate the direction from directly in front of any axis, the tip of the arrow of that axis may be aligned with the cursor.

FIG. 3 is an example for explaining the movement of the cursor on the icon.

In the top icon, the cursor is in front. On the other hand, the movement of the cursor when the two-dimensional displacement input device 1 (mouse) continuously indicates the upper right 45 degree direction is shown in order. In the figure, the black circle represents the cursor on the front side of the sphere, and the white circle represents the cursor on the back side of the sphere. The movement of the mouse in the 45 degree direction is the movement of the cursor along the great circle in the 45 degree direction on the spherical surface indicated by the icon. When the cursor is on the back side, moving the mouse to the upper right will move the cursor to the lower left, but this should have better operability.

The movement of the cursor is summarized as follows.

(1) The cursor moves while being constrained on the spherical surface of the icon.

(2) Considering a great circle connecting the current position of the cursor on the spherical surface and the front, and moving the mouse in a direction that coincides with the angle when viewed from the front of the great circle, the cursor becomes the great circle. It moves continuously along a circle.

(3) When moved in a direction different from the great circle angle of (2), it moves in a direction intersecting with the great circle at the cursor position by an angle corresponding to the difference from the great circle angle.

As described above, according to this embodiment, an inexpensive pointing device capable of intuitively inputting an angle in a three-dimensional space can be realized. The position in the three-dimensional space is
Confirm by specifying the distance r in addition to θ and φ, but θ,
If φ can be intuitively input, r can often be easily input by other means.

In the above description, a two-dimensional mouse is used as the displacement input device and a spherical icon is used as the icon. However, any general pointing device is used, and different shapes and restraint conditions are used. The same effect can be obtained by using an icon having a symbol or a cursor constrained to the shape of the displayed three-dimensional object itself, and the object of the present invention can be achieved.

[0032]

As described above, according to the present invention, the two degrees of freedom of the pointing device are converted so as to correspond to the angles in the two directions in the three-dimensional space, and the converted angles can be easily recognized on the display device. By displaying with, it is possible to realize a general, inexpensive, and high-speed pointing device that can intuitively input the angle and position in the three-dimensional space.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a shape of an icon of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the cursor of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a conventional three-dimensional pointing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 2 dimensional displacement input device 2 input control device 3 icon display control device 4 display device 5 upper device 4-1 multi-dimensional displacement input device 4-2 3 dimensional display control device 4-3 display device 4-4 upper device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G09G 5/36 8121-5G

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A pointing device for displaying a three-dimensional shape on a graphic display device and inputting a three-dimensional position or displacement used when performing an operation on the three-dimensional shape. And a two-dimensional displacement input device that obtains and outputs two sets of displacement data, and two sets of the displacement data by a predetermined algorithm.
An input control device for converting into a set of angle information, and an icon for converting the angle information into position information for displaying a bright spot on a graphic for indicating a direction in a three-dimensional space drawn on a display device. A pointing device having a display control device.