3D interaction with volumetric medical data: experiencing the Wiimote

Three-dimensional virtual environments are becoming more and more important for the inspection of volumetric medical data reconstructed from slices of images coming from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computer Tomography (CT), Positron Emission Tomography (PET) instrumentations. The possibility to visualize and interact with three-dimensional reconstructed organs while being immersed into a virtual environment, provides doctors a very naturalistic way to investigate patient’s anatomy. However, most 3D user interfaces for immersive and semi-immersive virtual reality applications lack in usability or make not possible a user-friendly interaction. In this paper we present new flavors of existing 3D interaction techniques specifically designed for interacting with volumetric medical data in a semi-immersive virtual environment by using the Nintendo Wiimote controller as 3D user interface.