Is Wearable Input Devices Better for 3D Modeling on Tablet? A Case study

Tablet computers have become ubiquitous and important for product designers in daily use. Among various computer input devices, it might seem likely that the wearable input devices on a tablet would elicit higher time efficiency than the traditional mouse in a 3D model building environment. This paper presents five experiments that examine the speed of using different cursor control devices (mouse, pen mouse, ring mouse, stylus, and E-touch screen) to complete a 3D model task. Six participants were recruited in the investigation. The result shows that it took the least time to complete a 3D model by using the stylus, consecutively followed by the touch screen, the mouse, the pen mouse, and the ring mouse. The data indicated that the stylus is a useful and convenient tool when creating a 3D model on a tablet, while other innovative wearable input devices were more time-consuming than the traditional mouse.