CRII: CHS: Structurally-Aware Computation for Geometry Acquisition and Design

当前的建模软件主要关注对象的几何描述，而现实世界的考虑，如结构稳定性和鲁棒性，已被视为一个单独的问题。这种分离缺乏结构信息可以为设计和建模过程带来的洞察力，并且使物理工件的建模变得困难和低效。PI在这个项目中的目标是通过在结构几何处理的新领域建立一个研究项目来缓解这个问题，这是数字几何处理和结构工程的交叉授粉，将结构信息注入几何建模的各个阶段，从扫描到重建再到编辑和设计，这将导致更高效的3D模型，具有更高的精度和真实感，以物理正确的方式运行。3D打印和数字制造在设计和制造领域掀起了一场革命；桌面3D打印机的出现为非专家实现复杂对象提供了广泛的可访问性。这项研究将允许开发更强大、可靠和可用的工具来创建数字内容。除了与计算机图形学直接相关外，这里开发的几何处理技术也将适用于文化遗产应用，为历史遗址的存档和可视化以及分析存活了几个世纪的历史砖石建筑的稳定性和安全性开辟了新的可能性。PI的跨学科方法也将在各自的几何处理和结构工程领域开辟新的研究领域。该研究将影响三个核心推力：结构信息三维几何获取；稳定结构的几何建模与设计；并使用3D制作原型。第一个推力将开发新的方法，通过利用结构先验来捕捉大型建筑场地的几何形状。扫描通常会由于障碍和固有的结构限制而导致信息丢失。PI将改进扫描数据的重建方法，纳入结构正确的约束，因此更忠实，建筑物的数字表示。将开发算法自动将捕获的表面几何形状转换为可通过结构力学方法分析的体积质量模型。第二个重点将为一类新的计算机辅助设计（CAD）工具奠定基础，这些工具将和谐地整合结构目标。表面和体积建模的进步对工程和设计产生了广泛的影响。虽然当代建筑的特点是自由形状的爆炸，但这些富有表现力的形状往往是以高昂的材料和建筑成本为代价的。现有的软件缺乏帮助设计师改进几何形状的能力，例如，减少内力和所需材料。PI将研究形状优化方法，以探索与结构约束相关的能源景观。第三次推力将使用数字制造技术验证前两次推力的优化几何形状。将虚拟模型转换为物理工件的过程受到许多约束。PI将开发计算工具来解决大规模原型的稳健性、材料的经济使用和可印刷性等问题。缩放的3D打印模型将能够对前面讨论的建模概念进行有效的物理验证。

Current modeling software is primarily concerned with geometric descriptions of objects, while real-world considerations such as structural stability and robustness have been treated as a separate issue. This separation lacks the insights that structural information can bring to the design and modeling process, and makes the modeling of physical artifacts difficult and inefficient. The PI's goal in this project is to alleviate this problem by establishing a research program in a new field of structural geometry processing, a cross-pollination of digital geometry processing and structural engineering, which will infuse structural information into all stages of geometric modeling, from scanning to reconstruction to editing and design, and which will lead to more efficient 3D models with a higher degree of accuracy and realism that behave in a physically-correct manner. 3D printing and digital fabrication have started a revolution in design and manufacturing; the emergence of desktop 3D printers has delivered widespread accessibility to non-experts for realizing complex objects. This research will allow the development of more robust, reliable, and usable tools for creating digital content. Aside from their direct relevance to computer graphics, the geometry processing technologies to be developed here will also have applicability to cultural heritage applications, opening up new possibilities for archiving and visualizing historic sites, and for analyzing the stability and safety of historic masonry buildings that have survived for centuries. The PI's interdisciplinary approach will also open new areas of research in the respective fields of geometry processing and structural engineering. This research will impact three core thrusts: structurally-informed 3D geometry acquisition; geometric modeling and design of stable structures; and prototyping with 3D fabrication. This first thrust will develop new methods to capture the geometry of large architectural sites by exploiting structural priors. Scans often suffer from missing information due to obstructions and inherent construction limitations. The PI will improve on reconstruction methods from scan data by incorporating constraints for structurally-correct, and hence more faithful, digital representations of buildings. Algorithms will be developed to automatically translate captured surface geometry into volumetric mass models that can be analyzed by structural mechanics methods. The second thrust will develop the foundation for a new class of Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) tools that harmoniously integrate structural objectives. Advances in surface and volumetric modeling have had wide influence in engineering and design. While contemporary buildings now feature an explosion of free-form shapes, these expressive shapes are often achieved at the expense of high material and construction costs. Existing software lacks the ability to aid designers in improving geometry, for example, to reduce internal forces and required material. The PI will investigate shape optimization methods for exploring energy landscapes linked with structural constraints. The third thrust will validate the optimized geometry from the first two thrusts using digital fabrication technology. The process of turning a virtual model into a physical artifact is subject to many constraints. The PI will develop computational tools to address problems in robustness, economic use of material, and printability for large-scale prototypes. Scaled 3D printed models will enable effective physical validation of the modeling concepts previously discussed.