Document Lens 3D Visualization Tool For Large Rectangular Presentations
Aims Very basic – visualization of data 3D – to make effective use of space Interactive animation Provide focus+detail / context+detail representation Aid user in perceiving patterns or textures in information
Detailed Description General visualization technique based on a common strategy for understanding paper documents when their structure is not known
Problems with the layout of Information Text too small to read but yet needed to perceive patterns. Traditional magnifying lens
Features Lens – rectangular – interested in text that is mostly rectangular Sides are elastic and pull the surrounding parts towards the lens creating a pyramid
Animation Mouse controls motion in x-y plane Space and alt keys move the lens forward and backward in the z plane
Technical details Rendering the text 5 times – translation, rotation and scaling Clipping Culling Greeking - useful for maintaining the interactive animation rates
Drawbacks Lens size is fixed Lens occupying most of the viewing frustrum Only simple string match is implemented
Additions Adjustment to lens size and shape More elaborate search methods
Usability Attributes Learnability Retention Ease of use Error recovery User satisfaction