Overview - Tactile effects library

Immersion TouchSense Technology provides the designer of a tactile interface with a broad palette of touch effect types. Each available force feedback effect type is a "primitive" - a simple, elemental sensation with a unique set of properties and a specific behavior. A usable effect is created by tuning the properties of a chosen primitive. The tuned effect may then be used either on its own, or in combination with other tuned effects, to create a final, complete effect.

Effects can vary over space (the area of the screen), over time, or both. Some effects can be experienced passively (they happen TO the user), while some, by design, only happen in response to movement or displacement initiated by the user. Effects with a spatial component involve or react to movement or changes in cursor position, and include the following:

• pushes or pulls in a particular direction
• resistance to or amplification of a user's cursor movements
• textures and contours

Effects with a temporal component involve variation over or repetition in time, and include the following:

• repeating (periodic or vibration) effects, with an effect interval playing over and over in time at a chosen frequency
• effects wrapped in envelopes, with finite attack and fade periods flanking the primary effect magnitude
• effects of finite duration

Effects playing without requiring participation from the user include:

• pushes or pulls in a particular direction
• periodic or vibration effects

Effects playing only in response to user movement include:

• resistance to or amplification of a user's cursor movements
• textures and contours, which require a user to move around in order to feel them

Device Differences

Considerations

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