A user interface for free-form shape design at the responsive workbench

This paper presents a virtual environment based user interface for the conceptual design of free form surface models from scratch. The user performs sketching and elaboration directly within a projection-based, table-like environment. He uses head-tracked stereo glasses and simple input devices. We describe user interface components for creation, manipulation, and application control, which were specifically designed for use in a 3D environment. These components are part of a two-handed interaction scheme. In our modeling approach, the user draws curves and constructs a curve network that forms the skeleton of the surface. Automatic surfacing methods generate shapes that correspond to the outlined boundary, thus freeing the designer from specifying all surface parameters by hand. We demonstrate how the use of a virtual environment benefits such creation and manipulation tasks.