ITR: Constructive Visualization: Understanding Spatial Relationships Through Interaction

复杂的空间结构渗透到未来的环境中。纳米级的分子机器允许使用复杂的方法进行计算并将数据与环境相结合。人性化的工业设计为交通解决方案提供了更好的控制和效率。建筑形式在复杂性和互联性方面不断增长，定义了我们在不断扩张的城市中的体验。虽然在三维可视化这些形状方面已经取得了很多进展，但设计师们还没有在创作的早期阶段利用信息技术的力量。最初的想法仍然大多是用二维纸质草图或简单的物理工具来构建的，比如有机化学中常用的分子建模工具包。相比之下，数字表示是可变的、动态的，并且可在计算机的最低级别重新配置。对于人类来说，用当代的2D界面很难有效地操纵这些东西。因此，设计师、工程师、艺术家和建筑师必须要么选择一个传统的、前信息技术时代的环境，在那里他们可以自由地玩简单的积木，要么选择一个数字空间，在这个空间里，只有经过详尽的数据转换、严格的规划和远见，以及偶尔的技巧，才能组成复杂的元素。这里提出的工作通过创建工具来弥合这一鸿沟，这些工具有助于(1)以铅笔草图的速度构建3D模型；(2)有形模型的物理直观；(3)数字数据结构的流体表示；以及(4)算法模拟的主动响应。工作结果将立即在建筑、工业设计和分子化学领域得到应用。因为研究团队在一个共同的框架内处理这些独立的问题，所以结果将广泛适用于许多不同的问题，从根本上改变人类在太空中创造结构的能力。

Complex spatial structures permeate the environment of the future. Nanoscale molecular machines allow sophisticated methods of computing and integrating data with environments. Human-scale industrial designs provide transportation solutions with greater control and efficiency. Architectural forms, growing in both complexity and inter-connectivity, define our experience in the ever-expanding city. While many advances have been made in visualizing these shapes in three dimensions, designers have yet to leverage the power of Information Technology in the early stages of creation. Initial ideas are still mostly constructed with two-dimensional paper sketches or simple physical tools, such as the molecular modeling kits commonly used in organic chemistry. Digital representations in contrast are mutable, dynamic, and re-configurable at a lowest level of the computer. These are difficult for humans to manipulate effectively with contemporary 2D interfaces. Thus designers, engineers, artists and architects must choose either a traditional, pre-Information Technology environment, where they can freely play with simple building blocks, or a digital space where complex elements can be composed only after exhaustive data transformations, strict planning and foresight, and the occasional trick. The work proposed here bridges this divide by creating tools that facilitate (1) the construction of 3D models with the speed of pencil sketches; (2) physical intuition of tangible models; (3) fluid representation of digital data structures; and (4) activeresponse of algorithmic simulation.The results of the work will have immediate application in the fields of architecture, industrial design, and molecular chemistry. Because the research team treats these separate problems within a common framework the results will be broadly applicable to many diverse problems, fundamentally altering the human ability to create structures in space.