May.15, 2013
A new design tool that specialised computer algorithms and a depth-sensing camera could enable designers and artists to create and modify 3D shapes using hand gestures instead of keyboard and mouse.
Shapes like these can be created using a new design tool that interprets hand gestures (Purdue University image/ C Design Lab)
The tool, called Shape-It-Up, could recognize the hand gesture and movement, understand that the hand is interacting with the shape and then modify the shape in response to the hand interaction. It uses the Microsoft Kinect camera, which senses three-dimensional space. The user is then able to create shapes in a computer by interacting with a virtual workspace as the shape is displayed on a large-screen monitor.
"You create and modify shapes using hand gestures alone, no mouse or keyboard," said Karthik Ramani, Purdue University's Donald W. Feddersen Professor of Mechanical Engineering. "By bringing hands into the virtual space with a single depth camera we are able to manipulate the 3-D artifacts as if they actually exist."
Researchers call the underlying technique shape–gesture–context interplay.
"We are going from Windows icons, menus and pointers - or WIMPs - to a post-WIMP, natural user interface, or NUI," Ramani said.
The tool is an advance over a previous version that was limited to creating "rotationally symmetric" objects, or those having the same measurements on all sides.
According to Ramini, the tool could have applications in areas including games, architecture, art and engineering design, and also serves the emerging "creative maker" community.
"We are going from Windows icons, menus and pointers - or WIMPs - to a post-WIMP, natural user interface, or NUI," Ramani said.
"Our goal is to make the designer an integral part of the shape-modeling process during early design, which isn't possible using current CAD tools," Ramani said.
"The conventional tools have non-intuitive and cognitively onerous processes requiring extensive training. We conclusively demonstrate the modeling of a wide variety of asymmetric 3-D shapes within a few seconds. One can bend and deform them in various ways to explore new shapes by natural interactions. The effect is immediate."
The creations can then be produced using a 3D printer.
The shapes are created using a 3-D printer. (Mark Simons, Purdue University photo)
The team will demonstrate the technology at the Maker Faire on Saturday and Sunday (May 18 and 19) in the San Mateo (Calif.) County Event Center.
The research findings is published in the February issue of Computer-Aided Design magazine. The paper was co-authored by Ramani, graduate students Vinayak and Sundar Murugappan and postdoctoral researcher HaiRong Liu. The paper is available at here.
Posted in 3D Software
Maybe you also like:
- 3D Systems can turn you into a Star Trek figure for $70
- Mecube: easy-to-learn 3D design app for iPhone and iPad
- Blender 2.67 RC1 and DVD Training Blender for 3D Printing Released
- Printcraft latest version released, teaming up with Makerbot
- Try glasses online using 3D Modeling and an iPad
- Mcor Technologies introduces ColourIT software
- Autodesk: The future of 3D printing at home
- 3D modeling startup Handprint moving into the Feld Fiberhouse
- Doodle3D sketching tool for 3D printing launched on Kickstarter
- Cubize: a YouTube-like virtual showroom of 3D models
- New CGTrader aiming to be an eBay-like 3D model marketplace
- 3D Industri.es launches 3D search engine for industrial parts
- Announcing the closure of Tinkercad, new Airstone under development
- Kinect for Windows SDK gets update tomorrow, includes hand-recognition and 3D-modeling
This is interesting and I've been waiting for some fully functional 3d manipulation software like that. However, I'm very anxious to see some related technology used with the new leap motion controller technology coming out next month.
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
