Interaction Techniques for Layout Editing of Graphic Elements

PhD Thesis Proposal Defence


Title: "Interaction Techniques for Layout Editing of Graphic Elements"

by

Mr. Pengfei XU


Abstract:

Creating or editing a layout of graphic elements is a common task in
many scenarios, for example, the creation of diagram or photo
collage. To obtain a target layout, typically the user needs to
perform a series of manual operations, such as selecting, resizing
and positioning. This process gives the user full control of the
final layout, while it is tedious and error-prone, especially when
the target layout is complex.

This thesis focuses on developing interactive techniques to
facilitate the process of creating or editing the layout of graphic
elements. We introduce three interactive techniques to improve the
user's performance. With these techniques, the user may perform the
selection and manipulation operations easier and more efficiently.

First, we introduce a new selection tool called Lazy Selection. It
is a scribble-based tool for quick selection of one or more desired
shape elements by roughly stroking through the elements. Our
algorithm automatically refines the selection and reveals the user's
intention. It first extracts selection candidates from the
scribble-covered elements by examining the underlying patterns and
then ranks them based on their location and shape with respect to
the user-sketched scribble. Such a design makes this tool tolerant
to imprecise input systems and applicable to touch systems without
suffering from the fat finger problem.

Second, we present GACA, a group-aware command-based arrangement
tool. Compared with the traditional command-based arrangement tools,
it reduces the numbers of selection operation and command
invocation. The key idea is that an issued arrangement command is in
fact very informative, instructing how to automatically decompose a
2D layout into multiple 1D groups. each of which is compatible with
the command. We present a parameter-free, command-driven grouping
approach so that users can easily predict our grouping results. We
also design a simple user interface to enable explicit control of
grouping and arrangement.

Third, we present a framework for automatic global beautification of
layouts. To facilitate ambiguity resolution in layout
beautification, we present a novel user interface for visualizing
and editing inferred relationships. First, our interface provides a
preview of the beautified layout with inferred constraints, without
directly modifying the input layout. In this way, the user can
easily keep refining beautification results by interactively
repositioning and/or resizing elements in the input layout. Second,
we present a gestural interface for editing automatically inferred
constraints by directly interacting with the visualized constraints
via simple gestures.


Date:			Friday, 19 September 2014

Time:                   2:00pm - 4:00pm

Venue:                  Room 3501
                         lifts 25/26

Committee Members:	Prof. Chiew-Lan Tai (Supervisor)
 			Dr. Huamin Qu (Chairperson)
 			Prof. Chi-Shing Chung
 			Prof. Long Quan


**** ALL are Welcome ****