The design and realization of CoViD: a system for collaborative virtual 3D design

Many important decisions in the design process are made during fairly early on, after designers have presented initial concepts. In many domains, these concepts are already realized as 3D digital models. Then, in a meeting, the stakeholders for the project get together and evaluate these potential solutions. Frequently, the participants in this meeting want to interactively modify the proposed 3D designs to explore the design space better. Today’s systems and tools do not support this, as computer systems typically support only a single user and computer-aided design tools require significant training. This paper presents the design of a new system to facilitate a collaborative 3D design process. First, we discuss a set of guidelines which have been introduced by others and that are relevant to collaborative 3D design systems. Then, we introduce the new system, which consists of two main parts. The first part is an easy-to-use conceptual 3D design tool that can be used productively even by naive users. The tool provides novel interaction techniques that support important properties of conceptual design. The user interface is non-obtrusive, easy-to-learn, and supports rapid creation and modification of 3D models. The second part is a novel infrastructure for collaborative work, which offers an interactive table and several large interactive displays in a semi-immersive setup. It is designed to support multiple users working together. This infrastructure also includes novel pointing devices that work both as a stylus and a remote pointing device. The combination of the (modified) design tool with the collaborative infrastructure forms a new platform for collaborative virtual 3D design. Then, we present an evaluation of the system against the guidelines for collaborative 3D design. Finally, we present results of a preliminary user study, which asked naive users to collaborate in a 3D design task on the new system.     

Designing a ticket to ride with the Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit

Cognitive work analysis has been applied in the design of numerous sociotechnical systems. The process used to translate analysis outputs into design concepts, however, is not always clear. Moreover, structured processes for translating the outputs of ergonomics methods into concrete designs are lacking. This paper introduces the Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit (CWA-DT), a design approach which has been developed specifically to provide a structured means of incorporating cognitive work analysis outputs in design using design principles and values derived from sociotechnical systems theory. This paper outlines the CWA-DT and describes its application in a public transport ticketing design case study. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the process provide promising early evidence that the toolkit fulfils the evaluation criteria identified for its success, with opportunities for improvement also highlighted.     

Automatic Generation of Vivid LEGO Architectural Sculptures

Brick elements are very popular and have been widely used in many areas, such as toy design and architectural fields. Designing a vivid brick sculpture to represent a three‐dimensional (3D) model is a very challenging task, which requires professional skills and experience to convey unique visual characteristics. We introduce an automatic system to convert an architectural model into a LEGO sculpture while preserving the original model's shape features. Unlike previous legolization techniques that generate a LEGO sculpture exactly based on the input model's voxel representation, we extract the model's visual features, including repeating components, shape details and planarity. Then, we translate these visual features into the final LEGO sculpture by employing various brick types. We propose a deformation algorithm in order to resolve discrepancies between an input mesh's continuous 3D shape and the discrete positions of bricks in a LEGO sculpture. We evaluate our system on various architectural models and compare our method with previous voxelization‐based methods. The results demonstrate that our approach successfully conveys important visual features from digital models and generates vivid LEGO sculptures.     

The effects of 3D interface metaphor on older adults’ mobile navigation performance and subjective evaluation

Navigating vast information spaces through mobile interfaces has become a common activity in older adults' everyday lives. Studies suggested that interface metaphors could be used to facilitate users' metal model development and information processing when using mobile technologies. However, we know little about how metaphors affect older adults' mobile navigation behavior, and which user characteristics matter during this perceptual and cognitive process. To investigate this, a card interface with a 3D metaphor and a list interface without 3D metaphors were compared among twenty-two participants when performing four navigation tasks. User characteristics including demographic factors, technology experience, and user capabilities were examined. The participants' navigation performance and subjective evaluations were measured as the dependent variables. From the results, we recommend the list interface without 3D metaphors as a beneficial choice for older adults. It performed better in navigation performance, although the differences are not statistically significant. Moreover, navigation performance using the card interface with a 3D metaphor was significantly associated with participants' perceptual speed, thus this interface may be more sensitive to capability declines. Valuable insights into the older adults’ mobile navigation performance and preferences are discussed and important implications for the design of mobile navigation user interfaces are proposed based on the results.Relevance to industryThe experimental results propose a more beneficial way to present contents on a mobile user interface for older adults and provide valuable insights for the designers and industry to help them understand the older adults’ usage and perceptions towards the application of 3D metaphors when navigating with mobile interfaces.     

Non-visual game design and training in gameplay skill acquisition – A puzzle game case study

This paper reports the results of a study on the design and evaluation of the game and techniques which allow puzzles to be played in the absence of visual feedback. We have demonstrated that a camera-mouse can be used successfully for blind navigation and target location acquisition within a game field. To gradually teach the players the sequential learning method was applied. Blind exploration of the gamespace was augmented with sticky labels and overview sound cues, verbal and non-verbal, which can significantly reduce the cognitive load and facilitate mental matching and integration. The full-sticky labels technique does not require fine motor skills and allows a user to gain control over the game with a minimum level of skills. With the vertical sticky labels technique training was focused on the development of accurate head movements only on a horizontal plane. With practice, the players can use the non-sticky labels technique. After 240 trials (3–4 h), the cumulative experience of the blindfolded players was increased 22.5–27 times compared to the initial 10 trials.     

A new design concept: 3D to 2D textile pattern design for garments

‘The word “fashion” is synonymous with the word “change”. Fashion begins with fabrics and fabrics begin with colour’. This famous remark/definition of ‘fashion’ must now be revised in the era of digital technology. In this paper, we propose a novel print design concept, from 3D garments to 2D textiles. By taking advantage of the cutting-edge developments in surface parameterisation, cloth simulation and texture assignment, we develop a computer system that allows designers to create figure-flattering prints directly onto 3D garments, and will output 2D pattern pieces with matched texture that are ready for digital printing and garment production. It reverses the traditional design process from 2D fabrics to 3D garments. The results produced by the proposed method guarantee textural continuity in both garment and pattern pieces. It not only releases apparel makers from the tedious work of matching texture along seams, but also provides users with a new tool to create one-of-a-kind fashion products by designing personalised prints.     

Physical and Digital Artifact-Mediated Coordination in Building Design

We conducted an ethnographic field study examining how a building design team used representational artifacts to coordinate the design of building systems, structure, and architecture. The goals of this study were to characterize the different interactions meeting participants had with design artifacts, to identify bottlenecks in the design coordination process, and to develop design considerations for CSCW technology that will support in-person design coordination meetings of building design teams. We found that gesturing, navigation, annotation, and viewing were the four primary interactions meeting participants had with design artifacts. The form of the design information (2D vs. 3D, digital vs. physical) had minimal impact on gesture interactions, although navigation varied significantly with different representations of design information. Bottlenecks in the design process were observed when meeting participants attempted to navigate digital information, interact with wall displays, and access information individually and as a group. Based on our observations, we present some possible directions for future CSCW technologies, including new mechanisms for digital bookmarking, interacting with 2D and 3D design artifacts simultaneously, and enriched pointing techniques and pen functionality.     

Aesthetic geometry evolution in a generic interactive evolutionary design framework

An interactive evolutionary design framework is presented which provides a testbed for the development and exploration of a range of visual aesthetic design spaces. A commercial 3D digital content development software package is used to leverage the strength of existing 3D algorithm implementations and familiar interfaces and tools. The domain of non-representational 3D forms sculpted with a series of non-linear deformers is discussed as the primary example. Additional simple problem domains are shown which are being developed to serve as examples for non-programmer artists and designers who are familiar with digital content authoring in Maya. These examples will enable such individuals to rapidly construct their own interactive evolution systems. Matthew Lewis, Ph.D.: He is a researcher at The Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) at The Ohio State University, where he received his M.S. (1993) and Ph.D. (2001) degrees in Computer Science. His research interests include evolutionary design, generative art, and data remapping for artistic performance and installation. Keith Ruston: He is a student at The Ohio State University where he has earned his B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering (2003) and is currently pursuing his M.S. His major field of study is graphics and animation. His career goals include working in the animated film industry and/or computer game development.     

Configural display design techniques considered at multiple levels of evaluation

Two studies were conducted to examine issues in the design and evaluation of configural displays. Four design techniques (bar graphs/extenders, scale markers/ scale grids, color coding/color layering/color separation, and annotation with digital values) were applied, alone and in combination, to a baseline configural display, forming 10 displays. Two qualitatively different evaluations assessed performance for (A) low-level data probes (quantitative estimates of individual variables) and (B) system control and fault detection tasks. Three of the four design techniques improved performance significantly for low-level data probes (color coding was the exception). A display with digital values only (i.e., no analog configural display) produced the poorest performance for control/fault detection tasks. When both levels of evaluation are considered, a composite display (configural display with all four techniques applied) was clearly the most effective. Overall, the findings obtained in the two experiments provide very limited evidence for the generalization of results between evaluations. The two levels of evaluation, the display manipulations, and the patterns of results are considered in terms of a cognitive systems engineering evaluation framework. General implications for the evaluation of displays and interfaces are discussed. Actual or potential applications include design techniques to improve graphical displays and methodological insights to focus and improve evaluation efforts.     

Cognitive effectiveness of visual instructional design languages

The introduction of learning technologies into education is making the design of courses and instructional materials an increasingly complex task. Instructional design languages are identified as conceptual tools for achieving more standardized and, at the same time, more creative design solutions, as well as enhancing communication and transparency in the design process. In this article we discuss differences in cognitive aspects of three visual instructional design languages (E²ML, PoEML, coUML), based on user evaluation. Cognitive aspects are of relevance for learning a design language, creating models with it, and understanding models created using it. The findings should enable language constructors to improve the usability of visual instructional design languages in the future. The paper concludes with directions with regard to how future research on visual instructional design languages could strengthen their value and enhance their actual use by educators and designers by synthesizing existing efforts into a unified modeling approach for VIDLs.     

Virtual reality application influences cognitive load-mediated creativity components and creative performance in engineering design

Virtual reality (VR) can promote design performance, and may generate a high cognitive load and affect creative design thinking as well. In order to examine the effect of VR application on cognitive load and engineering design creativity, this study recruited 81 eighth-grade students as participants and employed a non-equivalent-groups quasi-experimental design to examine how VR application influences creativity components and creative performance. A creativity component scale (creative motivation, creative thinking, and professional cognition), a measurement of creative performance, and a cognitive load scale were used to collect data. The study also investigated the ability of VR application to predict creativity components and creative performance, using cognitive load as the mediator. The conclusions are as follows: (1) VR application had marked effects on professional cognition and creative motivation but no effect on creative thinking skills. (2) VR application had marked effects on the novelty and usefulness aspects of creative performance, particularly with respect to usefulness. (3) VR application had marked effects on extraneous and germane cognitive load, but no influence on intrinsic cognitive load, and (4) Both VR application and cognitive load were able to predict creativity components and creative performance. Their abilities to predict creative performance approached an acceptable level. Nevertheless, VR application had no effect on general creative thinking skills; therefore, other teaching strategies are needed to strengthen creative thinking.     

FI3D: direct-touch interaction for the exploration of 3D scientific visualization spaces

We present the design and evaluation of FI3D, a direct-touch data exploration technique for 3D visualization spaces. The exploration of three-dimensional data is core to many tasks and domains involving scientific visualizations. Thus, effective data navigation techniques are essential to enable comprehension, understanding, and analysis of the information space. While evidence exists that touch can provide higher-bandwidth input, somesthetic information that is valuable when interacting with virtual worlds, and awareness when working in collaboration, scientific data exploration in 3D poses unique challenges to the development of effective data manipulations. We present a technique that provides touch interaction with 3D scientific data spaces in 7 DOF. This interaction does not require the presence of dedicated objects to constrain the mapping, a design decision important for many scientific datasets such as particle simulations in astronomy or physics. We report on an evaluation that compares the technique to conventional mouse-based interaction. Our results show that touch interaction is competitive in interaction speed for translation and integrated interaction, is easy to learn and use, and is preferred for exploration and wayfinding tasks. To further explore the applicability of our basic technique for other types of scientific visualizations we present a second case study, adjusting the interaction to the illustrative visualization of fiber tracts of the brain and the manipulation of cutting planes in this context.     

Reverse innovative design — an integrated product design methodology

Today’s product designer is being asked to develop high quality, innovative products at an ever increasing pace. To meet this need, an intensive search is underway for advanced design methodologies that facilitate the acquisition of design knowledge and creative ideas for later reuse. Additionally, designers are embracing a wide range of 3D digital design applications, such as 3D digitization, 3D CAD and CAID, reverse engineering (RE), CAE analysis and rapid prototyping (RP). In this paper, we propose a reverse engineering innovative design methodology called Reverse Innovative Design (RID). The RID methodology facilitates design and knowledge reuse by leveraging 3D digital design applications. The core of our RID methodology is the definition and construction of feature-based parametric solid models from scanned data. The solid model is constructed with feature data to allow for design modification and iteration. Such a construction is well suited for downstream analysis and rapid prototyping. In this paper, we will review the commercial availability and technological developments of some relevant 3D digital design applications. We will then introduce three RE modelling strategies: an autosurfacing strategy for organic shapes; a solid modelling strategy with feature recognition and surface fitting for analytical models; and a curve-based modelling strategy for accurate reverse modelling. Freeform shapes are appearing with more frequency in product development. Since their “natural” parameters are hard to define and extract, we propose construction of a feature skeleton based upon industrial or regional standards or by user interaction. Global and local product definition parameters are then linked to the feature skeleton. Design modification is performed by solving a constrained optimization problem. A RID platform has been developed and the main RE strategies and core algorithms have been integrated into SolidWorks as an add-in product called ScanTo3D. We will use this system to demonstrate our RID methodology on a collection of innovative consumer product design examples.     

可分幅式柱状图的参数化计算机辅助设计

钻孔柱状图是工程勘察工作中的一类基础图件.从钻孔柱状图机助编绘的现状和特点出发,为了进一步提高系统的功能适应性,就其图件模型、图形参数分解和生成流程展开了分析和研究,实现了新型可分幅式钻孔柱状图的参数化机助设计与生成.实践证明,钻孔柱状图的计算机辅助设计可以达到很高的自动化程度,并且由于采用参数化方式,生成过程灵活,数字化成果图件能够满足实际工作的要求,在地质勘查信息化工作中具有很好的应用前景.     

Recursive symmetries for geometrically complex and materially heterogeneous additive manufacturing

We present a generative method for the creation of geometrically complex and materially heterogeneous objects. By combining generative design and additive manufacturing, we demonstrate a unique form-finding approach and method for multi-material 3D printing. The method offers a fast, automated and controllable way to explore an expressive set of symmetrical, complex and colored objects, which makes it a useful tool for design exploration and prototyping. We describe a recursive grammar for the generation of solid boundary surface models suitable for a variety of design domains. We demonstrate the generation and digital fabrication of watertight 2-manifold polygonal meshes, with feature-aligned topology that can be produced on a wide variety of 3D printers, as well as post-processed with traditional 3D modeling tools. To date, objects with intricate spatial patterns and complex heterogeneous material compositions generated by this method can only be produced through 3D printing.     

Schminky: The design of a café based digital experience

This paper describes the design process and lessons learned from creating Schminky, a café-based digital experience. Schminky was developed as an experimental field trial to explore the role of pervasive computing. The game will be played by the general public for one week in the Watershed café in Bristol. The Schminky system and the experience design process is described and three key findings, creative tension, context and content are discussed.     

Cognitive work analysis and the design of user interfaces

When a user interface needs to be designed for a task that depends on information integration, such as navigation, very few theoretical tools are available. Cognitive task analysis (CTA) and hierarchical task analysis (HTA) are the basic analysis techniques. A choice between them depends on the type of task or objective at hand. In this article, it is argued that for interface design a combination of CTA and HTA forms the basis of the interface definition. When this expanded to a full cognitive work analysis (CWA), it will form the human-factors analysis required for the user-interface design.     

When paradigms collide at the road rail interface: evaluation of a sociotechnical systems theory design toolkit for cognitive work analysis

The Cognitive Work Analysis Design Toolkit (CWA-DT) is a recently developed approach that provides guidance and tools to assist in applying the outputs of CWA to design processes to incorporate the values and principles of sociotechnical systems theory. In this paper, the CWA-DT is evaluated based on an application to improve safety at rail level crossings. The evaluation considered the extent to which the CWA-DT met pre-defined methodological criteria and aligned with sociotechnical values and principles. Both process and outcome measures were taken based on the ratings of workshop participants and human factors experts. Overall, workshop participants were positive about the process and indicated that it met the methodological criteria and sociotechnical values. However, expert ratings suggested that the CWA-DT achieved only limited success in producing RLX designs that fully aligned with the sociotechnical approach. Discussion about the appropriateness of the sociotechnical approach in a public safety context is provided.

Practitioner Summary: Human factors and ergonomics practitioners need evidence of the effectiveness of methods. A design toolkit for cognitive work analysis, incorporating values and principles from sociotechnical systems theory, was applied to create innovative designs for rail level crossings. Evaluation results based on the application are provided and discussed.     

The effects of the number of links and navigation support on cognitive load and learning with hypertext: The mediating role of reading order

Problems in learning with hypertext systems have been claimed to be caused by high levels of disorientation and cognitive load. This was recognized by DeStefano and LeFevre [DeStefano, D., & LeFevre, J. -A., (2007). Cognitive load in hypertext reading: A review. Computers in Human Behavior, 23(3), 1616–1641.] who predicted an increase of cognitive load and impairment of learning for hypertexts with a higher number of links per page. From a practical perspective, several navigation support techniques, such as providing link suggestions, have been proposed for guiding learners and reducing cognitive overload. In an experiment, we tested DeStefano and LeFevre’s predictions as well as the usefulness of link suggestions. Participants used different versions of a hypertext, either with 3-links or 8-links per page, presenting link suggestions or not. We tested their cognitive load and learning outcomes. Results showed that there was a benefit of using link suggestions for learning, but no effect of number of links on learning was found. Moreover, the effects of our manipulations on cognitive load were mediated by the reading order that participants selected. Implications for research and the design of navigation support systems are discussed.