Researchers at Korea’s Advanced Institute of Science and technology (KAIST) have come up with a radical new 3D sketching technology that bridges the gap between the accuracy of stylus/pen drawing and the ease of hand motion inputs. The new system uses both and thus allows sketch artists to make accurate 3D models faster.
The researchers call it Agile 3D Sketching. As a workflow, it uses the hand inputs first to create a sort of scaffolding that becomes the outline of the model. Ordinarily, hand motions are difficult to control but can be much faster and natural for the artist. With this workflow, they can create the scaffolding as the rough layout and then add more details with a stylus.
3D shapes are easier to sculpt and direct by hand but styluses and pens are more difficult to use. It’s possible that the latter two are more attuned towards 2D drawing methods and therefore have trouble translating those motions into 3 dimensions. This gives a good middle ground, utilising the advantages of both.
Agile 3D Sketching
The researchers came up with an algorithm to capture the descriptive hand motions from transitory hand motions and extract only the intended shapes from unconstrained hand motions, based on air scaffolds from the identified motions. They also conducted various user tests and learned that the technique is fairly easy even for beginners.
We’ve previously gone into all the ways in which 3D modeling, sketching and printing go together. Print models have all sorts of new gadgets that can aid in design, like VR headsets and sketching software. This works in a similar vein.
This new method could lead to far quicker print creation and conceptualisation on the model end. Additionally, it could even be useful for the automobile industry, home appliances, animations and the movie making industry. It’ll be interesting to see if this method will catch on.
Featured image and video courtesy of KAIST.
