DRAGON: A Direct Manipulation Interface for Frame-Accurate In-Scene Video Navigation

We present DRAGON, a direct manipulation interaction technique for frame-accurate navigation in video scenes. This technique benefits tasks such as professional and amateur video editing, review of sports footage, and forensic analysis of video scenes. By directly dragging objects in the scene along their movement trajectory, DRAGON enables users to quickly and precisely navigate to a specific point in the video timeline where an object of interest is in a desired location. Examples include the specific frame where a sprinter crosses the finish line, or where a car passes a traffic light. Through a user study, we show that DRAGON significantly reduces task completion time for in-scene navigation tasks by an average of 19-42% compared to a standard timeline slider. Qualitative feedback from users is also positive, with multiple users indicating that the DRAGON interaction felt more natural than the traditional slider for in-scene navigation.