Project Aims

To investigate how haptic computer interfaces can aid the conceptualisation phase of design, within a three dimensional virtual environment

During the conceptualisation phase of the design process, an applied artist / designer will rapidly formulate many ideas, which it is necessary to record, modify and annotate, in order to arrive at a final design choice. The traditional medium for conceptualisation is pencil and paper sketching, which facilitates the rapid development of many ideas in a short period of time. If "A picture is worth a 1000 words", a 3D model is worth many times more pictures, as it can be inspected and modified from many separate viewpoints. A growing number of applied artists employ computer aided design (CAD) packages within a later stage of their work, in order to visualise their final designs in a cost effective, risk free manner. However, CAD packages are seldom used within the conceptualisation phase of design, due to the cumbersome method of interaction with data. The traditional medium of human computer interaction, such as the graphical user interface (GUI) or the keyboard input command line, allow the user to interact "indirectly" with their data, in a structured fashion.

This is ideal for equally well structured tasks, such as word processing, programming or spreadsheets, but instead presents a barrier for tasks such as conceptual sketching, where the essence is on speed and fluidity of transferring ideas to another medium. Haptic interfaces offer the potential for designers and applied artists to work more intuitively within a 3D environment by providing direct, physical interaction with their data. Many of the cumbersome elements of today's CAD packages (rigid, inflexible geometry, confusing multiple 2D viewpoints, abstract buttons and "tools" for data interaction, deeply nested menus and technical language) arise from our difficulty of formalising and visualising in 3D space. We believe a more user friendly way to overcome this is to aid the designer with helpful haptic feedback, which can be used to guide and advise them in the 3D environment, without being overtly insidious and disruptive to the thought process.