A comparison of four interaction modes for CAD systems

An evaluation experiment was conducted to compare four interaction modes: mouse based, pen based, pen+voice, and pen+voice+mouse modes. Subjects tested the four modes for drawing and modifying an engineering plan on a CAD system. The results show that the pen+voice+mouse mode was the best of the four modes, in terms of total manipulation time (drawing time and modification time), and the subjects' preferences. This experiment confirmed that a proper combination of multiple modality input tools could improve the interactive efficiency of CAD systems. The experiment also provides information on how users adapt to each interaction mode and the ease with which they are able to use these modes. Our tests for the first time give statistical support to the view that the mouse is still useful for accurate modification and location procedures even in the multimodal interface for CAD systems.