How to make an Android view that flips between views on swipe/fling?

What is the best UX design to describe a 3D space in a 2D view?

• I believe many people have seen using 2 views to describe a 3D space: a SIDE view and a TOP view. It will introduce some cumbersome interaction when switching what you want to see. Let's imagine a 3D building block contains multiple levels, so from a SIDE view, it will look like this -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- In the above sample, we are looking from a SIDE, and this 3D model has 3 levels (stacks). If this thing has 2 racks (think about server racks), from a TOP view, it will look like this -- -- -- -- -- -- Since there are 2 racks, then if we go to the SIDE view, we should be able to switch from rack 1 to rack 2 and have the same SIDE view (or not, because rack 2 could have only 2 levels instead of 3). Now in my interactive "canvas", I need to select one piece (block) at a time (let's say we want to configure a block, or I want to add more blocks at some place). I guess some people might suggest using 2.5D visualization, which might work but it has some disadvantages such as it is difficult to select some blocks. Unavoidably, we will have to implement the rotation, zooming, and other interaction in this fake 3D canvas, which is something business tries to minimize.  If we decide using 2-view interaction, as I has mentioned, the interaction is cumbersome. First, in reality, users can only interact with one view at a time. Let's say if you have both views displayed on screen, you add a block to the SIDE view level 1, you might not be able to see the change in the TOP view because you are not at the right rack or it might be blocked. So it's confusing. I will rather to have one view at a time. Second, when having only one view to interact with, what's the efficient design to switch from one view point to another? Let's say I am current viewing SIDE view rack 1, and now I want to change to TOP view level 2. To make a little more sense, I attach a mock up This is a screen with both views together. As you can see, in the TOP view, I won't be able to tell that the middle block is taller than other two blocks. In addition, you can probably tell, to do a view point switch, I need at least 2 mouse clicks: (1) from SIDE to TOP (2) select a rack or level number. I could have a separate window that provides a mini map like this which arbitrarily describes the model, and highlight the viewpoint the user is currently looking at. And then expose some controls to switch a viewpoint. It will be still a little awkward in my opinion. In sum, I guess my questions are really about: 1) what is another way to describe a 3D model using only 2D and allow users to interact with the model (i.e. selecting a piece, append, delete, swap, etc. ) that is better than using 2-view (SIDE and TOP) 2) what will be a good design that quickly switch from one viewpoint to another in such a 2D representation? Thanks

• Answer:

  I think it will have to be the 'right hand rule'. It clearly explains the dimensions using something that everyone understands easily.