Incorporating 3D body motions into large-sized freeform surface conceptual design

Large-sized free-form surface design presents some challenges in practice. Especially at the conceptual design stage, sculpting physical models is still essential for surface development, because CAD models are less intuitive for designers to design and modify them. These sculpted physical models can be then scanned and converted into CAD models. However, if the physical models are too big, designers may have problems in finding a suitable position to conduct their operations or simply the models are difficult to be scanned in. We investigated a novel surface modelling approach by utilising a 3D motion capture system. For designing a large-sized surface, a network of splines is initially set up. Artists or designers wearing motion marks on their hands can then change shapes of the splines with their hands. Literally they can move their body freely to any positions to perform their tasks. They can also move their hands in 3D free space to detail surface characteristics by their gestures. All their design motions are recorded in the motion capturing system and transferred into 3D curves and surfaces correspondingly. This paper reports this novel surface design method associated with some case studies.