Real-time 3D fluid interaction with a haptic user interface

Imagine you are playing a videogame in which you impersonate a wizard who needs to create a potion in order to enchant your enemies. Through a desktop haptic probe, shaped as a baton, you are able to stir and feel the magical fluid inside a bowl. As you follow the potion recipe, you feel how the fluid changes its viscosity, density, velocity and other properties. Various hapto-visual user interfaces enable users to interact in three-dimensions with the digital world and receive realistic kinesthetic and tactile cues in a computer-generated environment. So far solid or deformable objects have been experimented for haptic-tactile feedback. In this paper we innovate by devising techniques that enable the haptical rendering of shape-less objects, such as fluids. Focusing on the real-time performance to enhance the user's experience, the system imitates the physical forces generated by the real-time fluid animation, stirring movements and fluid changes. We achieved real-time 3D fluid and overcame the challenges that arise during the integration of both haptics and graphics workspaces, the free-view visualization of 3D fluid volume, and the rendering of haptic forces. These fluid interaction techniques with haptic feedback have wide possible applications including game development and haptic communities.