Sensing 3motion: An Interview with Digital Design Studio

When Nintendo announced that the controller for their upcoming Wii console would be a motion-sensitive remote rather than a traditional push-button joypad, there was much buzz and excitement. Instead of sitting there and controlling our games without moving, we'll now find ourselves waving our arms about like lunatics.

The concept is certainly interesting, but it's not unique, neither in concept nor implementation. When I went looking for comparable projects I came across 3motion, a similar gesture-based system of game control. Unlike the Nintendo controller, it is a sensor that can be attached to other devices, such as mobile phones and existing controllers. Looking at 3motion gives us a window into both Nintendo's system, and the general application of gesture-based gaming in the future. (It is, after all, a wee bit of a revolution... ohh dear, I'm fired aren't I?)

3motion is being developed by the Digital Design Studio of the Glasgow School of Art, a research and commercial centre specializing in 3D visualization and interaction technologies. I caught up with the design team and asked them to fill me in on what 3motion is all about.

THG: How did 3motion come about?

3m: The Digital Design Studio had been investigating user interfaces within interactive and immersive visualization applications for some time prior to the inception of the 3motion project. At that time, it was seen that an affordable three-dimensional input device could present a more intuitive method for a user to manipulate virtual objects in an equally three-dimensional computer space. In addition to this, the use of gestures is obviously a valuable communication skill. One trend we noticed in videogames is a move away from complexity at many levels. By using our natural human facility to gesture, the 3motion controller is thus able to present a refreshing simplicity - and lack of buttons. Gestural interaction is well suited to the controller due to the extra freedom to gesture in three as opposed to two dimensions.

Initial funding for 3motion was provided by Scottish Enterprise as a 'Proof of Concept' project, with the aim of developing a low cost, mobile, 3D gesture-based controller, and an accompanying Gesture Software Development Kit (SDK). Our primary focus was on the gaming and entertainment markets.