An approach to 3D digital design free hand form generation

This work describes a method for direct free hand drawing of complex tri-dimensional surfaces, by moving 2 hands in space. The system tracks the movement of 2 lights in space using 2 Web cams. The lights (LED s) are attached to the designer´s finger who watches the surface being drawn on a monitor. The user can draw any surface that can be described by the movement in space of a line of varying length, in any direction. The shapes generated can be imported by 3D Studio and then AutoCAD for later precise editing. The fundamental guidelines to this research were: (1) nonintrusiveness of the input and visualization devices, (2) wireless free hand drawing in 3D space, (3) instinctive interface and (4) exporting capabilities to other CAD systems. In conclusion this work argues that 3D design, based on free hand form generation, allows for an enhancement of the traditional creative process through spontaneous and immediate translation of a concept into 3D digital form.