Distributed conferencing tools for product design

Conferencing systems support cooperative work among people and groups who are interested in exchanging ideas, discussing projects or making dicisions, but are unable to meet in the same location. It is impossible to replace face-to-face communication by computer conferencing, but the combination of audio and video connections integrated with graphical tools in a conferencing system offers a useful environment for discussions. In our contribution we focus on conferencing tools for specific application areas and user groups. The conferencing tools we introduce support discussions between designers, engineers and product developers working in the area of industrial and mechanical design. These tools enable advanced information exchange about 3D geometric models using distributed viewing, annotating and structering capabilities. The geometric models will be read from a CAD system via standardized interfaces or CAD system native interfaces.