Hybrid sketching : a new middle ground between 2- and 3-D

This thesis investigates the geometric representation of ideas during the early stages of design. When a designer's ideas are still in gestation, the exploration of form is more important than its precise specification. Digital modelers facilitate such exploration, but only for forms built with discrete collections of high-level geometric primitives; we introduce techniques that operate on designers' medium of choice, 2-D sketches. Designers' explorations also shift between 2-D and 3-D, yet 3-D form must also be specified with these high-level primitives, requiring an entirely different mindset from 2-D sketching. We introduce a new approach to transform existing 2-D sketches directly into a new kind of sketch-like 3-D model. Finally, we present a novel sketching technique that removes the distinction between 2-D and 3-D altogether. This thesis makes five contributions: point-dragging and curve-drawing techniques for editing sketches; two techniques to help designers bring 2-D sketches to 3-D; and a sketching interface that dissolves the boundaries between 2-D and 3-D representation. The first two contributions of this thesis introduce smooth exploration techniques that work on sketched form composed of strokes, in 2-D or 3-D. First, we present a technique, inspired by classical painting practices, whereby the designer can explore a range of curves with a single stroke. As the user draws near an existing curve, our technique automatically and interactively replaces sections of the old curve with the new one. Second, we present a method to enable smooth exploration of sketched form by point-dragging. The user constructs a high-level "proxy" description that can be used, somewhat like a skeleton, to deform a sketch independent of

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Alex, John, 1977-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Julie Dorsey and William L. Porter.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/28749
• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Identifier URI

http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/28749

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/28749