Gesture Interfaces

This chapter begins with the foundation of gesture interfaces and how and where they are commonly used, followed by basic theory that will help to select and design a gesture interface and related advice and warnings. Gestures originate from natural interaction between people. They consist of movements of the body and face as nonverbal communication that complements verbal communication. This is the inspiration behind using gesture interfaces between man and machine. A gesture interface can be seen as an alternative or complement to existing interface techniques, such as the old desktop paradigm. Gesture interfaces can navigate a Windows interface just as well or better than the mouse cursor, while they may be more or less useless when it comes to fast computer games, such as three-dimensional (3D) shooters and airplane simulators. When developing a gesture interface, the objective should not be "to make a gesture interface." It is not universally the best interface for any particular application. The objective is "to develop a more efficient interface" to a given application.