Spatial Pie Menu

Here is another experiment with a spatial pie menu. This time, I tried to see how different types of buttons would interact with each other.

In this prototype, there are three types:

— Action Button. Invokes some functions of the system. Media, Settings, Apple Intelligence;

— Binary Toggle. Changes the state of the system and reflects the changes. Passthrough Mode On/Off, Microphone On/Off;

— App Button. Incapsulates some system functions inside itself, reflecting its states. Recorder.

Observation: Reducing the dimensions of interaction is the simplest way to increase its accessibility and decrease the number of possible error cases. Using polar coordinates in the pie menu allows you to restrict the item selection to angular movement (1D) and control the selection states (hover, selected, active, default) with radius (1D), which makes the interaction easier and more forgiving to perform (compare it to Quest OS's action menu with 2D selection approach).

Also, the Pie Menu is idle when the radius between the center of the menu and your pinch position projected on the UI is under a certain threshold. This helps prevent false positive selections when you accidentally trigger the menu or change your mind.