Inspired from the tactility of solids and the fluidity of liquids, we have created Obake which embodies a solid shape changing form with a liquid exterior affording fluid like interactions. Obake objects are 3D wireframe shapes with the capacity to morph into new solid forms while maintaining a fluid exterior enabling new interaction opportunities.

We have outlined ten key interactions and gestures for an Obake surface, as illustrated in our presentation – intrude, extrude, prod, pull, push, friction, compress, expand, warp, stitch, s-bend.

We have currently implemented a 2.5D display based on the Obake principles which we use to demonstrate a geographic data viewer. The current features include exploring layers in the terrain both laterally (soil and water profile) and linearly (vegetation profile), ability to pull out shapes (buildings) and prod (mountain) them to explore detail, use of the elastic texture to create (river) and to customize paths (river thickness), to simulate using friction (fire) and to morph display affordances according to the shapes (physical extrusion of terrain from 2D surface to elevated 3D environment with depth based soil profile).

Presentation: Obake

Paper: Obake

Contributions:
Rob Hemsley – Ideation, Presentation, Physical Prototyping
Dhairya Dand –  Ideation, Presentation, Software Prototyping