Virginia Tech researchers earn top honor in IEEE VR 3DUI contest
Virginia Tech researchers and students developed a virtual reality system that transforms slides into interactive, spatial experiences.
A team of researchers and students from Virginia Tech’s Center for Human-Computer Interaction (CHCI) won the 2026 3D User Interfaces Contest at the 33rd IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces, highlighting new approaches to how information can be presented and understood in immersive environments.
The award-winning project, “From Slides to Space: Interactive Scale Navigation for XR Presentations,” redesigns traditional slide-based presentations as interactive 3D environments in virtual reality.
In the team’s demonstration, users take on the role of a planetarium presenter guiding an audience through the solar system. Rather than advancing through fixed, two-dimensional slides, they lead viewers through a spatial environment organized by scale, moving between planetary, Earth, and satellite perspectives.
Developed by CHCI student members and faculty affiliates Matthew Gallagher, Mason Szczesniak, Francielly Rodrigues, Nakul Kumar, Jasmine Walker, Hamid Tarashiyoun, and Doug Bowman, the project organizes presentations into spatial regions rather than slides, with each region representing a topic or segment. The layout reflects subject matter, allowing audiences to move through information while remaining oriented to the presenter’s narrative.
Slides are inherently abstract and static,” as the paper explained, “Virtual reality allows us to situate information in space, enabling users to explore, interact, and understand concepts more intuitively.”
The platform also introduces scale-based navigation as a storytelling tool. By shrinking to examine details or expanding outward for broader context, presenters can guide audiences through content using spatial transitions rather than traditional slide changes.
The design balances guided instruction with audience exploration. At certain points, attendees can move through the environment independently, ask questions, or direct attention through interactive cues. This approach combines structured narration with open exploration.
“From Slides to Space” was developed through an iterative process involving faculty members and students. Weekly design meetings, prototyping sessions, and user testing on Meta Quest 3 headsets helped refine both the technical implementation and user experience. The system was built using the Unity game engine and OpenXR to support compatibility across hardware platforms.
The IEEE VR 3DUI contest challenges participants each year to advance interaction design in three-dimensional environments. Entries are judged on innovation, usability, technical execution, and potential real-world impact.
Beyond the competition, the project points to applications in education, training, and communication, particularly in remote and hybrid learning environments.
The work explores how VR can extend conventional presentation methods through spatial interaction and embodied navigation.Potential benefits of the research include improved engagement and conceptual understanding.