Abstract

A method that uses the interaction of two and three dimensional environments to carry out the geometric modeling and refinement steps of the product development process is presented. The 2D environment is an interactive computer screen, where the initial sketching of the product takes place. This environment provides a direct one-to-one interaction and the feeling of using traditional pen and paper. Next, a characteristic feature of the 2D sketch is selected to be exported to a 3D environment, where 3D vision and manual interaction over an immersive augmented reality environment is provided to carry out the refinement steps. The 3D environment provides fully 3D visual feedback and geometry manipulation interaction. In this way, the advantages of 2D and 3D environments are used for a smooth transition between the sketching and the modeling tasks at the early stages of the design process. The goal of this ongoing work is solving some limitations of the 2D nature of sketching, the speed constrains imposed by the transition between a 2D sketch and its digital 3D model representation and the limitations of current CAD systems to easily modify freeform surfaces under form development.