Broad-Based Computational Shape Design

数字3D模型无处不在地用于传达产品设计，描述数字媒体中的虚拟资产，并为先进的制造工具指定目标几何形状。数百万寻求利用这些技术的设计师和创新者需要将他们想象的形状转换为定制的3D数字模型。目前可用的3D建模工具不适合他们的需求，因为它们需要时间和专业的建模专业知识，并且通常针对狭窄的几何形状集进行优化。我将通过开发易于使用的建模方法来支持这些用户寻求创建的广泛形状的建模，从而使新兴的广泛用户群能够创建3D几何内容。我将通过让用户使用他们最熟悉的媒介来描述他们设想的形状，然后通过算法将提供的用户输入转换为用户预期的虚拟3D模型来实现这一目标。我将开发的算法将利用我帮助开创的建模研究的新路线，利用对算法用户驱动的形状处理和建模的人类感知和形状通信的见解。我的计划将利用新兴的界面技术进行形状通信，这些技术现在才开始广泛使用，并将利用用户研究和3D数据收集来验证和微调所提出的方法。

Digital 3D models are ubiquitously used to communicate product designs, describe virtual assets in digital media, and specify target geometries for advanced manufacturing tools. Millions of designers and innovators who seek to utilize these technologies require the means to convert their imagined shapes into customized 3D digital models. Currently available 3D modeling tools are not suitable for their needs since they require time and specialized modeling expertise, and are often optimized for narrow sets of geometries. I will enable 3D geometric content creation by this emerging broad user base by developing modeling approaches that are easy to use yet support modeling of the broad range of shapes these users seek to create. I will achieve this goal by enabling users to describe their conceived shapes using the medium they are most comfortable with and then algorithmically translating the provided user input into the user-intended virtual 3D models. The algorithms I will develop will leverage a new line of modeling research that I helped pioneer that utilized insights about human perception and communication of shapes for algorithmic user-driven shape processing and modeling. My program will take advantage of emerging interface technologies for shape communication that are only now becoming broadly available, and will leverage user studies and collections of 3D data to both validate and fine-tune the proposed methods. 3DInterfaces: To support the modeling needs of a broad user base, I will develop a palette of modeling methods customized to different user-sets and modeling domains, while leveraging common observations about communication of user-intent as an underlying design principle. In the short term I will focus on modeling frameworks that employ three types of user-facing interfaces for shape communication: touch-and-pen displays, 3D Virtual and Augmented Reality manipulation devices, and photometric scanning of user-created real-life mockups. These technologies enable more natural 3D content communication compared to traditional mouse-and-keyboard modeling systems. However, leveraging the additional power they provide for user-guided modeling requires new algorithms and methodologies. 3DOptimization: Amateur users frequently lack the artistic skills to fully communicate the shapes they imagine. Thus inputs generated by less skilled users may lack the aesthetics or functionality they desire. My research will optimize the quality of the output models produced from such inputs while ensuring that the results remain consistent with user intent. Combined together these methods will drastically simplify the creation of virtual models, facilitating content creation by a broad user base and across a wide spectrum of domains. They will greatly expand the accessibility of advanced manufacturing techniques, a research priority identified by the federal government.