Virtual and augmented reality allows the utilization of natural user interfaces, such as realistic finger interaction, even for purposes that were previously dominated by the WIMP paradigm. This new form of interaction is particularly suitable for applications involving manipulation tasks in 3D space, such as CAD assembly modeling. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the suitability of natural interaction for CAD assembly modeling in virtual reality. An advantage of the natural interaction compared to the conventional operation by computer mouse would indicate development potential for user interfaces of current CAD applications. Our approach bases on two main elements. Firstly, a novel natural user interface for realistic finger interaction enables the user to interact with virtual objects similar to physical ones. Secondly, an algorithm automatically detects constraints between CAD components based solely on their geometry and spatial location. In order to prove the usability of the natural CAD assembly modeling approach in comparison with the assembly procedure in current WIMP operated CAD software, we present a comparative user study. Results show that the VR method including natural finger interaction significantly outperforms the desktop-based CAD application in terms of efficiency and ease of use.

虚拟和增强现实允许利用自然用户界面，例如逼真的手指交互，甚至用于以前由 WIMP 范式主导的目的。这种新的交互形式特别适用于涉及 3D 空间中的操作任务的应用程序，例如 CAD 装配建模。本文的目的是评估自然交互在虚拟现实中 CAD 装配建模的适用性。与计算机鼠标的常规操作相比，自然交互的优势表明当前 CAD 应用程序的用户界面具有发展潜力。我们的方法基于两个主要元素。首先，用于逼真手指交互的新颖自然用户界面使用户能够与类似于物理对象的虚拟对象进行交互。第二，一种算法仅根据其几何形状和空间位置自动检测 CAD 组件之间的约束。为了证明与当前 WIMP 操作的 CAD 软件中的装配程序相比，自然 CAD 装配建模方法的可用性，我们提出了一项比较用户研究。结果表明，包括自然手指交互在内的 VR 方法在效率和易用性方面明显优于基于桌面的 CAD 应用程序。