The Tacitus Project is a collaboration between Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh’s Virtual Environment Centre and their presentation will describe how the computer interface they are developing, using a six degrees of freedom haptic device, with stereovision and collocation, provides an intuitive and powerful digital tool for applied artists and designers, particularly for the conceptualisation stage of the design process.

The talk will focus on how touch, coherence and spatial knowledge are key concepts for designing systems for 3D object interaction to provide an application that could greatly improve 3D modeling systems for designers, artists, architects, animators, in fact anyone involved in creating 3D content.

Computers are flexible and programmable, and can theoretically adapt to different contexts. This positively differentiates them from other traditional media. Therefore the usual rationale of designers adapting to computer interfaces should be put differently, that is, how should computers match their users’ needs. Improvement in the quality of the experience would then arise as a consequence of a more considered encounter between the digital media and the designer’s requirements.