OverTop: Breaking the Boundaries of Tangible Tabletop Environments

Tabletop computers have been set out to change the way people work by providing a display on the table surface. Still they're only flat displays with digital content behind a glass screen. Tangibles extended the interface into the third dimension. However, the content still sticks mostly to the screen or is projected onto rigid objects. In this work, we present OverTop, a concept for providing a full three-dimensional interaction experience for both content and interface. We introduce three different layers, where both content and interfaces can be presented: Below, On, and Above. Using these three layers, OverTop extends the design space of tabletop interfaces to the area above traditional tabletop workplaces, opening up new interaction and visualization possibilities.