SPrAyCE
Draw in space with a familiar gesture
Can drawing in three dimensions feel as natural as tracing a shape in the air?
- MY ROLE
- Original concept and physical interaction prototype
- CONTEXT
- 2011 internship, Fluid Interfaces Group, MIT Media Lab
- STATUS
- Research prototype
The hand thinks differently.
Hold and move to spray a trace. Release it, then turn off spraying to explore the particles suspended in space. A screen-based study of the original spatial prototype.
From input to experience.
THE INTERACTION LOOP- 01
Move
Trace a shape in the air with a spray-like gesture.
- 02
Translate
The system maps the physical movement to digital drawing.
- 03
Draw
A gesture in physical space becomes a digital creation.
Take the drawing off the page
I wanted drawing in 3D to feel as natural as tracing a shape in the air with a finger. The starting point was a bodily action, with space itself taking the place of the page.
I created the concept and physical interaction prototype during my 2011 internship with the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab.
A spray as an interface
SPrAyCE uses a spray-like gesture as the central interaction. The user moves through the air, and the system translates that movement into digital drawing.
The spray metaphor gives the action a familiar physical reference while opening an unfamiliar space for creation. Neither a screen nor a sheet serves as the input surface.
Make the idea physical
The prototype made the proposed interaction tangible enough to demonstrate. Its accompanying research paper and video document the approach as an exploration of human-computer interaction.
The central design decision is to begin with the movement someone wants to make, then build the digital response around that movement.
A familiar gesture opens a way to create beyond the surface of a screen.