New Approaches to 3D Gestural Modeling - The 3D SketchMaker Project

Abstract

The 3D SketchMaker project has developed two prototypes for a gestural 3D sketching system to be used in the earliest phases of the design process. The goal of this ongoing research is to provide architects, and other designers involved in object conception, with a 3D gestural instrument that takes advantage of new virtual reality resources and is more natural than using the mouse, less difficult than learning complex software and less abstract than manipulating 2D entities on orthogonal projections. The system was conceived to assist or replace the first 2D drawing steps in the design process, generating rough 3D sketches that can be refined later using any 3D package. It is, in essence, a 3D modeling system directed to do sketching with hand movements and gestures in a virtual reality environment.