Disney's Research division doesn't just play around with Infinity action figures all day: the company has developed technology that enables 3D touch effects to be created on top of a flat touchscreen on a smartphone or tablet.
The new technique means that a person sliding a finger across a topographic map displayed on a touch screen can feel the bumps and curves of hills and valleys with the aid of Disney's algorithm - despite the screen’s smooth surface.
By altering the friction encountered as a person’s fingertip glides across a surface, the algorithm can create a perception of a 3D bump on a touch surface without having to physically move the surface. The method can, according to the developers, be used to simulate the feel of a wide variety of objects and textures.
The algorithm is based on a discovery that when a person slides a finger over a real physical bump, the person perceives the bump largely because lateral friction forces stretch and compress skin on the sliding finger, Disney explained.
“Our brain perceives the 3D bump on a surface mostly from information that it receives via skin stretching,” said Ivan Poupyrev, who directs Disney Research Pittsburgh’s Interaction Group.
He explained that the researchers created and validated a psychophysical model that closely simulates friction forces perceived by the human finger when it slides over a real bump.
“If we can artificially stretch skin on a finger as it slides on the touch screen, the brain will be fooled into thinking an actual physical bump is on a touch screen even though the touch surface is completely smooth”.
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