The Handbook of Multimodal-Multisensor Interfaces, Volume 1. Sharon Oviatt

et al. 2015] and move toward assisting users in “rolling their own.”

       Facets

      We introduced the notion of facets and schemas in Section 3.3.3 as a way of conceptually organizing, browsing and curating haptic sensations more generally. Five validated haptic facets elaborated there are physical, sensory, emotional, usage, and metaphors [Seifi et al. 2015] (Figure 3.2).

      Here, we look at facet-based design as a language-grounded approach that deliberately builds on multiple sense-making schemas in users’ minds. Specifically, faceted interfaces use this multiplicity of schemas to facilitate comprehension of interface concepts, as well as navigation and search for items according to their various properties [Fagan 2010]. For example, VibViz, built around the five abovementioned vibrotactile facets, is an interactive visualization of a library of 120 vibrations. Without any haptic background, users can quickly navigate the library by flexibly moving between vibration descriptions in various facets [Seifi et al. 2015].

3.4.3 Tools

      The range of tools available to haptic makers span software and hardware domains, to use for browsing, prototyping, authoring, and evaluating.

       Content Collections

      Libraries of effects were the first kind of software tool to achieve any kind of broad dissemination, coordinated with hardware platforms that became available for more widespread develompent. These software collections support developers by providing examples to browse, and supporting faster, easier programming and customization for sketching and refining. The UPenn Texture Toolkit contains 100 texture models created from recorded data, rendered through VT actuators and impedance-type force feedback devices [Culbertson et al. 2014]. The HapticTouch Toolkit [Ledo et al. 2012] and Feel Effect library [Israr et al. 2014] control sensations using semantic parameters, like “softness” or “heartbeat intensity,” respectively. Vibrotactile libraries like Immersion’s Haptic SDK [Immersion 2016] connect to mobile applications, augmenting Android’s native vibration library. VibViz [Seifi et al. 2015] structures 120 vibrations using a multi-faceted organization. Force feedback devices have software platforms like CHAI3D [CHAI3D 2016], H3D [H3DAPI 2016], and OpenHaptics [Geomagic 2016].

       Hardware Platforms

      Haptic hardware prototyping used to be really hard. Even products like Phidgets [Phidgets 2016], which lowered barriers by sourcing physical interaction widgets and giving access to them from standard computing platforms [Greenberg and Fitchett 2001], did not help force feedback designers because of the need for fast, low-latency refresh rates and high quality hardware. Similar problems applied to making vibrotactile displays do more than make annoying buzzes. Actuators capable of displaying more diverse sensations were the exclusive province of expert engineers.

      The world has changed. Emergent mechatronic prototyping platforms, as well as the takeoff of a “Maker” mentality and a new ease of quick turnaround hardware component outsourcing, have radically altered the landscape for hardware rapid prototyping and sketching over the last several years. Perhaps the most impactful platform has been open-source microcontroller and development platforms, lead by Arduino [Arduino 2016]. These have freed the designer from the painful choice between slow, irregular control updates from a general purpose computer, or tedious development cycles using embedded controllers, by making embedded control easy and inexpensive: performance and fast iteration at the same time. Expressive actuators like the Haptuator [Yao and Hayward 2010] can be ordered by hobbyists [Tactile Labs 2016] and controlled with audio. Even more recently, WoodenHaptics [WoodenHaptics 2016] gives open-source access to fast laser cutting techniques for force feedback development [Forsslund et al. 2015]. Soon we can expect a marketplace of haptic designs and techniques as already exists for other physical things, further spurring the haptic sharing economy. The benefit to haptic design is incalculable: not only is design democratized, but the ability to quickly explore large design spaces is expanding the gene pool of solution approaches.

      However, we can do much better: these platforms require programming, hardware, and haptics expertise, and include inherent time costs like compilation, uploading, and debugging. As we will discuss later, outreach and online communities may help to support hardware platforms.

       Browsing and Authoring Tools

      As long as designers have considered haptic effects for entertainment media, they have needed compositional tools [Gunther et al. 2002]. A great deal of previous work has focused on how to prototype or author haptic phenomena using nonprogramming methods.

      Many user-friendly interfaces help designers create haptic sensations, especially with vibrotactile devices. These tools often resemble familiar audio editors. The Hapticon Editor [Enriquez and MacLean 2003], Haptic Icon Prototyper [Swindells et al. 2006], and posVibEditor [Ryu and Choi 2008] use graphical mathematical representations to edit either waveforms or profiles of dynamic parameters (torque, frequency) over time. The Vibrotactile Score [Lee et al. 2009] is built around a musical schema and was shown to be generally preferable to programming in C and XML, but required familiarity with musical notation [Lee and Choi 2012]. Commercially, Immersion provides two tools: TouchSense Engage is a software solution for developers, while Touch Effects Studio lets users enhance a video from a library of tactile icons supplied on a mobile platform. Vivitouch Studio allows for haptic prototyping of different effects alongside video (screen captures from video games) and audio, and supports features like A/B testing [Swindells et al. 2014], a small-scale version of sharing. Macaron [Macaron 2016], an open-source, online editor [Schneider and MacLean 2016], moves browsing directly into the interface with an example window, facilitating remixes of existing vibrations, and was shown to directly support browsing, sketching, and refining.