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Pie menu
Pie menu
Pie menu
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A pie menu

In user interface design, a pie menu or radial menu is a circular context menu where selection depends on direction. It is a graphical control element. A pie menu is made of several "pie slices" around an inactive center and works best with stylus input, and well with a mouse. Pie slices are drawn with a hole in the middle for an easy way to exit the menu.

Pie menus work well with keyboard acceleration, particularly four and eight item menus, on the cursor keys and the number pad. A goal of pie menus is to provide a smooth, reliable gestural style of interaction for novices and experts.[1] A slice can lead to another pie menu; selecting this may center the pointer in the new menu.

A marking menu[2] is a variant of this technique that makes the menu less sensitive to variance in gesture size.[3]

As a kind of context menu, pie menus are often context-sensitive,[4] showing different options depending on what the pointer was pointing at when the menu was requested.

History

[edit]

The first documented radial menu is attributed to a system called PIXIE in 1969. Some universities explored alternative visual layouts.[5]

In 1986, Mike Gallaher and Don Hopkins together independently arrived at the concept of a context menu based on the angle to the origin where the exact angle and radius could be passed as parameters to a command, and a mouse click could be used to trigger an item or submenu.[6]

The first performance comparison to linear menus was performed in 1988, and showed an increase in performance of 15% less time and a reduction of selection errors.[7]

The role-playing video game Secret of Mana featured an innovative icon-based radial menu system in 1993.[8] Its ring menu system was adopted by later video games.[9]

Usage

[edit]

Pie menus are a self-revealing gestural interface: they display multiple options to a user and direct them to select one.

Users operate the menu by observing the labels or icons present as options, moving the pointer in the desired direction, then clicking to make a selection. This action is called a "mark ahead" ("mouse ahead" in the case of a mouse, "wave ahead" in the case of a dataglove).[citation needed]

Repetition of actions and memorization of the interface further simplify the user experience. Pie menus take advantage of the body's ability to remember muscle motion and direction, even when the mind has forgotten the corresponding symbolic labels.[1]

Comparison with other interaction techniques

[edit]

Pie menus are faster and more reliable to select from than linear menus, because selection depends on direction instead of distance. The circular menu slices are large in size and near the pointer for fast interaction (see Fitts's law). Experienced users use muscle memory without looking at the menu while selecting from it.[1][10] Nested pie menus can efficiently offer many options, and some pie menus can pop up linear menus, and combine linear and radial items in the same menu.[11] Pie menus, just like any popup menu, are shown only when requested, resulting in less visual distraction and cognitive load than toolbars and menu bars that are always shown.

Pie menus show available options, in contrast to invisible mouse gestures. Pie menus, which delay appearance until the pointer is not moving, reduce intrusiveness to the same level as mouse gestures for experienced users. Pie menus take up more screen space than linear menus, and the number of slices in an individual menu must be kept low for effectiveness by using submenus. When using pie menus, submenus may overlap with the parent menu, but the parent menu may become translucent or hidden.

Pie menus are most suited for actions that have been laid out by humans, and have logical grouping choices. Linear menus are most suited for dynamic, large menus that have many possible options, without any logical grouping,[1] since pie menus can only show a limited number of menu items. Around 3-12 items can be reasonably accommodated in a radial layout, but additional items past that tend to counteract the benefits of using pie menus in the first place. This can be overcome with related techniques that allow chaining commands in one single gesture through submenus.[3][12]

However, using interaction techniques that are not pointer-based have proven problematic with both pie and linear menus for cluttered digital tabletop, where physical objects might occlude menu items.[13]

Pie menus are unavailable as standard graphical control element in common commercial toolkits. Video games often require custom widget development, so pie menu cost is lower in that particular scenario.

Notable implementations

[edit]

Software

[edit]
A pie menu in the Sugar desktop environment

Games

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Pie menu

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
A pie menu, also known as a radial menu, is a widget in which selectable options are arranged in equal sectors around a central point, with the cursor or starting at the center to enable selection through directional rather than linear scanning. This design leverages the fixed radial distance to all targets, reducing the need for extensive cursor movement compared to traditional linear menus. Pie menus, developed by Don Hopkins in 1986, emerged in the late 1980s as an alternative to conventional pull-down or linear menus, with early implementations appearing in systems like MIT's and Sun's windowing environment. Empirical studies from this period demonstrated that pie menus could reduce target acquisition time by approximately 15% and lower error rates in menu selection tasks, particularly for diametric or circular arrangements of options, due to principles from that favor larger effective target sizes and shorter movement distances. Subsequent developments extended pie menus into marking menus, which incorporate a visible ink trail from cursor or stylus movement to allow expert users to bypass the visible menu entirely by drawing selection strokes, facilitating a seamless novice-to-expert transition without changing the interface. Evaluations of marking menus confirmed faster performance with exposed (visible) pie structures—averaging 0.98 seconds per selection with 1.6% error rates—while performance degraded with larger numbers of sectors (e.g., 11 or 12 items), where clock-face metaphors aided recall. These menus have since been adapted for diverse input methods, including stylus, touch, mouse, and even mid-air gestures in virtual reality environments, maintaining their efficiency for contextual, unimanual interactions.

Fundamentals

Definition and Characteristics

A pie menu, also known as a radial menu, is a circular context menu in graphical user interfaces where selection options are arranged as wedge-shaped slices radiating from a central point, typically invoked at the location of user input such as a click or tap. Unlike linear menus that align items in rows or columns, pie menus leverage a two-dimensional, circular layout centered on the cursor or activation point, with each option occupying a pie slice that extends outward from an inactive central region. Key characteristics include radial symmetry, where menu items are positioned at equal radial distances along the circumference, enabling directional selection through relative movement of the input device—such as dragging a mouse, sliding a stylus, or performing a touch gesture—toward the chosen slice. Activation is context-sensitive, often triggered by a button press, right-click, or long-press gesture, causing the menu to expand immediately from the trigger point while keeping the cursor in the center for intuitive access. These menus are typically limited to 4–8 primary items to maintain usability, as larger sets can overcrowd the circular space and complicate precise targeting. Visually, pie menus consist of labeled or icon-adorned slices that provide immediate feedback through highlighting as the cursor enters a target region, with the slices forming a complete or partial that fills the screen radially without fixed boundaries. The central inactive area ensures the menu starts compact and expands only as needed, promoting efficient scanning from the activation point. A common variant is the nested pie menu, which supports hierarchical navigation by spawning sub-menus from selected slices, allowing access to deeper structures while preserving the radial paradigm.

Basic Mechanics

Pie menus are activated through various input methods depending on the device. For mouse-based interactions, activation typically occurs via a right-click and hold at the cursor position, centering the menu there. On stylus-enabled devices, users tap and hold the stylus tip to invoke the menu at the contact point. For touch interfaces, activation often involves a long press (around 100-400 ms) on the screen to display the radial menu. Once activated, selection proceeds by moving the toward a desired slice of the pie. In standard pie menus, cursor or finger movement into a slice triggers immediate highlighting of that option, with the final choice confirmed upon releasing the button, stylus, or touch. A "marking" variant allows gesture-based selection where the direction of a quick swipe implies the choice without fully displaying the , enabling faster expert use by tracing a path that leaves a visual trail. User feedback during interaction includes visual cues such as slice highlighting, color changes to indicate hover states, or temporary expansion of the selected slice for better visibility. Audio confirmation may also play upon selection to provide non-visual reinforcement, particularly in multi-touch scenarios. The menu closes automatically after a selection is made and confirmed, often with a brief gray-out effect showing the chosen slice. For cancellation, users can explicitly return the cursor or finger to the inactive center area before release, dismissing the menu without action. Repeated interactions with pie menus can foster reliance on muscle memory for directional choices.

Historical Development

Early Concepts

The origins of pie menus trace back to the late 1960s, with the system representing a pioneering effort in radial menu design for graphical user interfaces. Developed at the between 1968 and 1969 by Neil E. Wiseman, Heinz U. Lemke, and John O. Hiles, was a (CAD) system built on a minicomputer. It utilized a as the primary for interactive drawing and manipulation of circuit diagrams, integrating a radial menu to enable rapid command selection without requiring extensive cursor movement. In , the radial menu appeared as a circular array of options centered at the light pen's position, allowing users to invoke functions by simply dragging the pen in the direction of the desired item. This approach was particularly suited to the constraints of early computing hardware, where input devices like light pens offered limited precision and speed compared to modern pointing devices. The design emphasized minimizing hand travel and , positioning options equidistant from the center to facilitate quick angular selections rather than linear scanning. These innovations built upon prior advancements in gestural interfaces, notably Ivan Sutherland's system from 1963. , implemented on an MIT TX-2 computer, introduced light-pen-based direct manipulation for creating and editing line drawings, establishing core principles of interactive graphics that influenced subsequent HCI developments, including radial selection mechanisms in systems like —though itself relied on linear menus and constraints rather than explicit radial layouts. Early human-computer interaction literature around this period also explored circular arrangements as a means to enhance in resource-limited environments. Theoretical discussions highlighted how polar coordinate-based menus could reduce selection times for constrained input devices by distributing options uniformly around a focal point, aligning with emerging models of human and performance. Such ideas underscored the potential of radial designs to optimize interaction in graphical , setting conceptual foundations that later evolved into formalized pie menus.

Key Milestones

The pie menu concept was initially developed in 1986 by Mike Gallaher and Don Hopkins during discussions on user interface design for , where they independently conceived of a context menu based on angular selection from a central origin. In 1988, Don Hopkins co-authored a seminal presented at the ACM CHI conference, which empirically demonstrated that pie menus enabled 15% faster target selection compared to linear menus while significantly reducing error rates, establishing early evidence of their efficiency. Following the paper, pie menus were implemented as a system facility for pop-up menus in MIT's and Sun Microsystems' windowing environment. The first major adoption in video games occurred in 1993 with , which introduced radial command wheels—a pie menu variant—for quick access to actions and items, influencing subsequent game interface designs. During the 2000s, pie menus saw integration in notable software titles, including the X11 port of , where Don Hopkins implemented them for tool selection to enhance usability in Unix environments, and , which extensively used dynamically generated pie menus for controlling character interactions and behaviors. In 2012, Gnome-Pie was released as an open-source circular application launcher for desktops, allowing users to configure customizable pie menus for quick access to applications and scripts, reviving interest in pie menus for modern operating systems. By 2018, pie menus appeared in Monster Hunter: World for efficient inventory management, employing radial selection to streamline item access during , demonstrating continued adaptation in high-action gaming contexts.

Design Principles

Ergonomics and Fitts's Law

Pie menus leverage , a foundational model in human-computer interaction that predicts the time required to move to a target area on a display. The law is expressed as MT=a+blog⁡2(DW+1)MT = a + b \log_2 \left( \frac{D}{W} + 1 \right), where MTMT is the movement time, DD is the distance from the starting position to the target, WW is the width of the target, and aa and bb are empirically determined constants reflecting device and user factors. In pie menus, the radial arrangement centers targets around the cursor's initial position, minimizing DD to a fixed radius for all options and effectively increasing WW through larger angular sectors, which reduces the index of difficulty log⁡2(DW+1)\log_2 \left( \frac{D}{W} + 1 \right) and thus shortens selection times compared to linear menus where distances vary significantly. The ergonomic advantages of pie menus stem from their alignment with natural human motor patterns, particularly the ballistic movements of the and . By organizing options in a circular layout, pie menus facilitate quick, directional pointing motions that mimic instinctive gestures, such as sweeping the hand from a central point outward, thereby reducing physical strain and the need for precise linear tracking. This radial design also lowers by providing intuitive spatial cues—users select based on direction rather than scanning a list—enhancing overall in pointing-based interactions. Empirical studies validate these benefits, particularly in terms of error reduction attributable to the larger effective target sizes in polar coordinates. In polar space, the angular width of each slice translates to a broader hittable area relative to the cursor's position, making selections more forgiving of minor deviations and leading to lower error rates than in Cartesian layouts of linear menus. A seminal 1988 study at CHI found pie menus produced lower error rates, with errors less frequent overall due to the fixed distance and enlarged targets. These reductions arise because the effective WW in encompasses the full arc of the slice, accommodating natural variability in wrist rotation and arm extension. Recent research as of 2020 has further explored these principles in mid-air gesture interactions, indicating that broader, shallower pie menus optimize performance in virtual environments by balancing depth and breadth trade-offs. Pie menus are particularly well-suited to pointing devices like computer mice and styluses, where continuous positional control allows precise radial movements that capitalize on the law's predictions. With mice, the low-friction gliding supports the short, curved paths ideal for pie selection, while styluses enable fine angular adjustments on tablets. However, they are less optimal for keyboard-based input, as discrete key presses do not align with the continuous, analog nature of directional targeting required by the radial geometry.

Layout and Customization

Pie menus are structured as circular arrangements centered on the cursor position, with items distributed across wedge-shaped slices radiating outward from an inactive central area that typically serves as a cancel option. Optimal layouts allocate 4 to 8 items, each occupying 45 to 90 degrees to balance target size and avoid overlap during selection. This configuration aligns with natural sweeping motions of the hand and cursor, enhancing ergonomic efficiency. Hierarchical structures extend pie menus beyond single-level designs by incorporating nested sub-menus, which maintain radial consistency across levels. Sub-menus are triggered by lingering the cursor on a slice—via dwell time or selection borders—allowing users to navigate deeper options without resetting the interaction. Studies indicate that up to 6 slices per level support effective multi-depth hierarchies, particularly in - or pointer-based controls. Customization enhances pie menu adaptability to user needs and contexts. Items can be dynamically reordered based on usage , with the most common option positioned at the 12 o'clock location for minimal movement. Label choices include text for descriptive clarity or icons for compact, visual recognition, while integration with application themes allows color schemes and styling to match surrounding interfaces. In adaptive variants like circular tag clouds, prediction confidence influences positioning, with high-frequency items centralized. To accommodate varying content volumes without distorting , pie menus employ techniques for 3 to 12 items, such as adaptive slice sizing that proportionally adjusts angles while preserving equal areas. For smaller sets (3–5 items), wider slices reduce precision demands; larger sets (up to 12) use finer divisions or semantic grouping to prevent crowding, often deferring excess to nested levels.

Advantages and Limitations

Performance Benefits

Empirical studies demonstrate that pie menus provide notable speed advantages over traditional linear menus, with selection times reduced by approximately 15% in controlled experiments. In the foundational study involving 33 participants, Callahan et al. (1988) found that users completed menu selections 15% faster using pie menus, a result attributed to the consistent radial distance to targets and the elimination of scanning overhead in linear layouts. Subsequent analyses have reported speed gains ranging up to 30% in specific contexts, particularly for repeated interactions where directional consistency minimizes cursor travel. These performance improvements align with , as pie menus maintain a fixed movement distance while expanding effective target sizes. Pie menus also enhance accuracy, exhibiting lower error rates due to their self-revealing design and support for in directional movements. The 1988 study reported fewer selection errors with pie menus compared to linear ones, stemming from larger activation regions (3500–6000 pixels² versus 1000–2000 pixels²) that tolerate greater cursor imprecision. By arranging options radially around the cursor, pie menus immediately expose all choices, reducing misselections from label scanning, while repeated use builds for angular directions, further decreasing errors over time. For expert users, pie menus excel in gestural recall, enabling rapid command issuance without visual scanning, which is particularly advantageous in repetitive tasks. This gestural mode, often extended through marking techniques built on pie layouts, allows power users to invoke options via memorized strokes, transitioning seamlessly from novice visual guidance to expert muscle-driven performance. Studies on marking menus, which leverage pie structures for visibility, confirm that experts achieve significantly faster and more accurate inputs by recalling directions rather than reading labels. In terms of , pie menus benefit users with motor impairments by offering larger, radially expansive targets that require less precise . The fixed-distance design and broad sector hit areas reduce the physical effort and accuracy demands of selection, making interactions more feasible for those with tremors or limited dexterity, though they do not address all impairment types comprehensively.

Drawbacks and Challenges

One significant drawback of pie menus is their space consumption, as the circular layout requires a radial arrangement that can occupy more screen real estate than linear alternatives, particularly when accommodating long labels for menu items. This issue becomes pronounced in interfaces with limited display area, such as mobile devices or dense application windows, where the expanded footprint may obscure underlying content or disrupt workflow. Scalability presents another challenge, with pie menus proving difficult to extend beyond approximately 8 to 12 items without resulting in cluttered or ineffective designs, such as overly narrow slices that hinder accurate selection. For dynamic lists or hierarchical structures exceeding this threshold, developers often resort to sub-menus or scrolling variants, which can introduce additional navigation complexity and reduce the menu's inherent efficiency. For novice users, pie menus require familiarization with directional associations, though usability studies show comparable performance to linear menus after initial training, with many preferring pie menus for ease of use. Implementation hurdles further limit pie menu adoption, as their non-rectangular geometry necessitates custom hit detection algorithms to accurately register selections based on angular position rather than bounding boxes, complicating integration into standard UI frameworks that prioritize rectangular widgets. This lack of native support in toolkits like those for web or desktop development often requires additional coding effort, including cursor warping near screen edges to prevent selection errors.

Applications and Usage

In Desktop Software

Pie menus have been integrated into creative software environments to facilitate rapid tool selection and context menu access, particularly in graphics editors. For instance, external tools like AutoHotPie enable customizable pie menus for Windows applications, allowing users to access drawing tools or editing functions in software such as GIMP without navigating traditional linear interfaces. Similarly, on macOS, the Pie Menu application supports radial shortcuts for GIMP, streamlining workflows by mapping common commands to directional selections around the cursor. In desktop environments, pie menus are commonly used for application launchers and keyboard shortcuts. The Fly-Pie GNOME Shell extension integrates with desktop on , presenting circular menus that users activate via hotkeys to bind and access groups of applications or system commands in a radial layout. This setup allows for efficient navigation of desktop elements, such as opening files or executing scripts, by leveraging the pie's fixed-center activation point relative to the mouse cursor. These implementations yield gains in desktop settings by accelerating access to file operations and tasks. Empirical studies demonstrate that pie menus reduce selection time compared to linear menus, with users achieving faster for operations like file saving or resizing due to minimized cursor travel distance. In operating system shells, tools like Kando enable pie-based switching, with version 2.0 released in July 2025 enhancing cross-platform support for multitasking in scenarios. Despite these benefits, pie menus in desktop contexts face challenges related to mouse precision and screen space utilization. As the number of menu items increases, distinguishing between closely angled slices demands higher cursor accuracy, potentially raising error rates in precise pointing tasks. Additionally, the circular design consumes significant display area, which can disrupt workflows in setups where the menu might overlap screen edges or adjacent displays, limiting visibility for extended layouts.

In Video Games

Pie menus, often implemented as command wheels in video games, enable radial selection of options such as spells, weapons, or actions, particularly in games (RPGs) and action titles. This design positions choices around a central point, allowing players to select items by directing input toward specific sectors of the circle. The concept gained prominence in console RPGs, with an early influential implementation in (1993), where the radial menu facilitated quick access to abilities and items during combat. In real-time gameplay, pie menus provide significant advantages by minimizing interruptions, as selections can be made swiftly without the need for linear or extensive through hierarchical lists. This reduces the and time required for command execution, enabling players to maintain immersion and respond promptly to dynamic events, such as battles or environmental challenges. demonstrates that radial menus outperform linear alternatives in speed and error rates, making them suitable for fast-paced scenarios where pausing the game for menu interaction could disrupt flow. For console versions, pie menus are adapted to controllers through navigation, where players hold a to activate the and tilt the stick to highlight sectors intuitively. This mapping leverages the rotational nature of analog input, supporting precise and rapid selections even with limited buttons. Such adaptations are common in genres requiring frequent command switches, enhancing on platforms without precision. The use of pie menus has evolved from 2D adventure games in the 1990s, like , to modern open-world titles, where they handle expansive inventories and abilities without overwhelming the interface. This progression reflects broader HCI innovations in gaming, adapting radial designs to support complex, non-linear while building for repeated actions through consistent directional cues.

In Mobile and Touch Interfaces

In mobile and touch interfaces, pie menus are typically activated through a long-press at a touch point, followed by a radial swipe to select an option, which minimizes the need for repeated lift-and-tap actions and streamlines one-handed operation. This activation method leverages dwell time—such as a 250-1000 ms hold—to reveal the menu, allowing users to navigate hierarchical structures via continuous swipes without lifting their finger, thereby reducing motor demands on small screens. The radial layout of pie menus offers thumb-friendly access on compact mobile devices, enabling efficient selection from all directions around the activation point, which is particularly beneficial for app launchers and contextual tools like photo editors where quick actions are needed. For instance, half-pie variants position options toward the screen's edge for right-handed users, improving and in one-handed scenarios, with studies showing gains after brief learning periods comparable to linear menus. Modern prototypes since 2020 have integrated pie menus into Android apps for contextual actions, such as in launchers that address fat-finger problems by enlarging effective target areas through directional swiping rather than precise tapping. Apps like Pie Launcher exemplify this, where a long-press on the summons a dynamic pie menu for app selection via swipe, with updates as recent as October 2025 enhancing usability on varied screen sizes without cluttering the interface. These implementations balance novice accessibility with expert speed, transitioning from visible pies to marking-style gestures over time. Despite these advantages, pie menus in touch interfaces face challenges including accidental activations from unintended long-presses and finger occlusion, where the selecting digit blocks menu visibility, potentially increasing error rates up to 10.6% with short dwell times. Additionally, proximity to screen edges can limit radial expansion, constraining menu depth and requiring adaptive designs to mitigate handedness and positioning issues. Multi-finger variants, while efficient for complex selections, exacerbate occlusion and errors compared to single-touch methods.

Comparisons with Other Menus

Versus Linear Menus

Pie menus differ from traditional linear menus, such as drop-down or menu bars, primarily in their radial layout, which positions options around a central activation point rather than in a sequential list. This design leverages directional pointing for selection, eliminating the need for scrolling or multiple navigation steps often required in linear menus to access mid-list items. As a result, pie menus enhance selection efficiency by minimizing cursor travel distance, particularly for items not at the top or bottom of a list, in accordance with principles where target distance is fixed and short. In terms of visibility, pie menus display all options simultaneously upon activation, allowing users to scan and select without expanding submenus or searching through hidden elements, unlike linear menus that may require sequential revelation or keyword hunting. This immediate visibility reduces for option identification and supports quicker . from a 1988 study demonstrated that pie menus were approximately 15% faster for selecting from menus with eight items and produced significantly fewer errors compared to linear menus, attributing gains to the uniform target distances and larger effective selection areas. Regarding the learning curve, linear menus align with familiar left-to-right or top-to-bottom reading flows, making them more intuitive for novices who rely on textual scanning. In contrast, pie menus encourage spatial memorization of option positions, akin to clock directions, which may initially challenge beginners but facilitates rapid expert performance through after repeated use. The self-revealing nature of visible pie slices mitigates some early hurdles, enabling novices to learn effectively while transitioning to gestural efficiency.

Versus Marking Menus

Pie menus and marking menus share gestural roots in radial selection paradigms, with marking menus developed as an extension of pie menus to enable faster expert performance through direct strokes. A primary distinction lies in their visual presentation: pie menus display explicit slices arranged in a circular layout, providing self-revelation that guides users to available options without prior memorization. In contrast, marking menus operate invisibly during expert use, relying on practiced straight-line strokes in the direction of a desired item, without on-screen cues once the layout is learned. This invisible mode eliminates the need for menu pop-up and pointing, but requires users to recall the radial arrangement from memory. Pie menus excel in supporting novice users by offering immediate visual feedback and on-screen cues that reduce during initial interactions. Marking menus, however, are optimized for experts after training, as repeated practice allows seamless transition to mark-based selection, though beginners may face a steeper without persistent visuals. This novice-expert divide enables marking menus to scale with user proficiency, unlike pie menus, which maintain visibility for all skill levels. In terms of speed, marking menus offer significant advantages for proficient users, achieving selection times approximately 3.5 times faster than pie menu pointing—such as 0.2 seconds per mark versus 0.7 seconds for visible selection—due to the absence of dwell time and menu display delays. However, this speed comes with higher initial error rates for novices, who must overcome mark inaccuracies before benefiting, whereas pie menus provide a more balanced performance across users with lower entry barriers but capped expert acceleration. Error rates in marking menus remain below 10% for menus with up to eight items and two levels of hierarchy once expertise is attained. Hybrid approaches bridge these paradigms by integrating visible pie menu displays with , allowing users to start with guided radial pointing and progress to invisible marks as they gain familiarity. Marking menus themselves embody this hybridity through dual-mode operation—pop-up for novices and direct for experts—often enhanced by techniques like boundary crossing for confirmation or animated crib sheets to aid rehearsal without full visibility. Such combinations preserve the self-revealing benefits of pie menus while unlocking the efficiency of gestural input.

Notable Implementations

Software Examples

Gnome-Pie is an open-source circular application launcher designed for desktops, first released in 2012. It enables users to configure multiple customizable pies, each composed of slices that provide quick access to applications, keyboard shortcuts, or files via radial selection. The tool activates pies through hotkeys or gestures, promoting efficient in desktop environments like . Unity3D pie menu plugins, such as the Simple Pie Menu asset available on the Unity Asset Store since 2024, extend the engine's capabilities for implementing radial in both game and non-game applications. These plugins support customizable radial interfaces for user interactions, including context-sensitive selections, and can integrate with Unity's UI system for applications like tools or simulations. While primarily developed for the game engine, they facilitate nested menu structures through scripting, allowing hierarchical organization of options in non-entertainment software. The Pie Menu library is a plugin that creates canvas-based radial pie menus for web user interfaces, enabling efficient radial context menus since its development around 2012. It renders menus from unordered lists with image icons for slices, supporting callbacks for selections, customizable colors, opacity, and padding to adapt to various web layouts. This library is particularly suited for dynamic web applications requiring quick, gesture-based without page reloads. Experimental pie menu implementations in for brush selection have appeared in third-party plugins post-2010, often integrating with hardware like tablets for radial tool access. For instance, custom radial menus allow stylus-based selection of brushes and presets, streamlining workflow in by mapping common actions to pie slices triggered by button presses. These plugins, such as those explored in community-driven projects, demonstrate pie menus' utility in creative software for reducing selection time in tool-heavy interfaces.

Game Examples

One prominent early example of pie menu implementation in video games is (1993), developed by Square for the . The game's Ring Command system employs a radial pie menu that pauses the action during real-time combat, allowing players to select spells, items, or equipment by navigating a circular array of icons with the while holding a button. This design facilitates quick decision-making without disrupting gameplay flow, as the menu overlays a darkened screen and leverages directional input for precise selection. The series, starting with the original release in 2000 by and , extensively uses pie menus for object interactions and build mode navigation. When players click on Sims, furniture, or environmental elements, a radial pie menu expands to display categorized actions such as "Friendly," "Mean," "Funny," or "Romantic" interactions, enabling efficient selection amid numerous options. This system was reorganized in a 2023 update to to improve accessibility by grouping interactions into clearer subcategories, reducing navigation time in complex scenarios like social simulations. In action RPGs, Monster Hunter: World (2018) by integrates a customizable radial pie menu, often referred to as an item wheel, for rapid inventory access during intense hunts. Players hold the R1 button (on PlayStation) to summon the wheel, which arranges up to eight items in a circular layout; rotating the right selects an option, and releasing confirms use, such as deploying potions or crafting materials mid-battle. This feature supports the game's emphasis on seamless resource management, with separate radial menus configurable for items, gestures, or ammunition via the in-game menu. Recent indie titles have adopted menus to enhance fluid controls in fast-paced , highlighting pie menus' utility in maintaining immersion by minimizing input delays for ability activation.

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  34. https://graphicsinterface.org/wp-content/uploads/gi2003-28.pdf
  35. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1536513.1536559
  36. https://www.cs.ucf.edu/~jjl/pubs/Chertoff_final.pdf
  37. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347330938_The_Effect_of_Dwell_Time_on_Swipe-based_Pie-Menu_Navigation_Efficiency
  38. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijoe.v16i15.17763
  39. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316114613_Performance_of_smartphone_users_with_half-pie_and_linear_menus
  40. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.markusfisch.android.pielauncher
  41. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.markusfisch.android.pielauncher/
  42. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221513830_Occlusion-aware_menu_design_for_digital_tabletops
  43. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2076354.2076378
  44. https://www.research.autodesk.com/app/uploads/2023/03/the-design-and-evaluation.pdf_recHpUp1v9dc1n2CJ.pdf
  45. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/169059.169426
  46. https://www.billbuxton.com/MMExpert.pdf
  47. https://github.com/Schneegans/Gnome-Pie
  48. https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/gui/simple-pie-menu-radial-menu-asset-270056
  49. https://github.com/antifuchs/jquery.piemenu
  50. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwYxI-fRq3Q
  51. https://simscommunity.info/2023/03/03/first-look-at-the-new-social-pie-menu-coming-to-base-game/
  52. https://simscommunity.info/2023/02/27/the-sims-4-pie-menu-update/
  53. https://game.capcom.com/manual/MHW/en/ps4/page/5/6
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