Systems and methods for multi-modality interactions in a spatial computing environment

A spatial computing system comprising:

• one or more hardware processors configured to:
• present a plurality of two-dimensional (“2D”) user interface (“UI”) elements and three-dimensional (“3D”) UI elements that are distributed within a 3D interactive space;
• provide a dynamic spatial pointer with a first 3D representation for navigating the 3D interactive space and selecting a UI element from the plurality of 2D UI elements and 3D UI elements, wherein providing the dynamic spatial pointer with the first 3D representation comprises presenting a first volumetric shape that spans a non-flat volume of the 3D interactive space and that has a selectable region corresponding to the non-flat volume of the first volumetric shape;
• convert the dynamic spatial pointer from the first 3D representation to a different second 3D representation in response to the dynamic spatial pointer attaching to a particular 3D UI element of the plurality of 2D UI elements and 3D UI elements, wherein converting the dynamic spatial pointer to the different second 3D representation comprises changing from the first volumetric shape to a second volumetric shape with a selection tip that reduces the selectable region from the non-flat volume of the first volumetric shape to a smaller region of the selection tip;
• and
• convert the dynamic spatial pointer from the first 3D representation to a first 2D representation in response to the dynamic spatial pointer attaching to a particular 2D UI element of the plurality of 2D UI elements and 3D UI elements, wherein converting the dynamic spatial pointer to the first 2D representation comprises flattening the first volumetric shape to a flattened 2D shape that is presented over the particular 2D UI element.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions that, when executed by one or more hardware processors of a spatial computing system, cause the spatial computing system to perform operations comprising:

• presenting a plurality of two-dimensional (“2D”) user interface (“UI”) elements and three-dimensional (“3D”) UI elements that are distributed within a 3D interactive space;
• providing a dynamic spatial pointer with a first 3D representation for navigating the 3D interactive space and selecting a UI element from the plurality of 2D UI elements and 3D UI elements, wherein providing the dynamic spatial pointer with the first 3D representation comprises presenting a first volumetric shape that spans a non-flat volume of the 3D interactive space and that has a selectable region corresponding to the non-flat volume of the first volumetric shape;
• converting the dynamic spatial pointer from the first 3D representation to a different second 3D representation in response to the dynamic spatial pointer attaching to a particular 3D UI element of the plurality of 2D UI elements and 3D UI elements, wherein converting the dynamic spatial pointer to the different second 3D representation comprises changing from the first volumetric shape to a second volumetric shape with a selection tip that reduces the selectable region from the non-flat volume of the first volumetric shape to a smaller region of the selection tip;
• and
• converting the dynamic spatial pointer from the first 3D representation to a first 2D representation in response to the dynamic spatial pointer attaching to a particular 2D UI element of the plurality of 2D UI elements and 3D UI elements, wherein converting the dynamic spatial pointer to the first 2D representation comprises flattening the first volumetric shape to a flattened 2D shape that is presented over the particular 2D UI element.