Paper @ INGEGRAF 2005 (Sevilla, 01-03.06.2005)
Reference: Paper @ INGEGRAF 2005 (Sevilla, 01-03.06.2005)
Title: Design virtual products using hands
Authors: M. Bordegoni, F. Espinach, J. Tresserras
Abstract: The industrial design process mainly deals with the initial conception of the product. It is traditionally characterized by the production of several physical prototypes made by skilled modelers molding plastic materials with their hands. Their purpose is showing the product and also evaluating its shape. The production of physical prototypes and their integration within the downstream digital activities of the product development process include practices like Reverse Engineering that are costly and time consuming. Some other practices have been adopted in the last decade, where designers themselves use CAS (Computer Aided Styling) tools for defining virtual prototypes of products. Anyway, also in this case some physical prototypes are built for product evaluation and final shape assessment. An alternative practice based on the use of virtual and haptic prototypes is proposed by the EU research project T’nD - Touch and Design (www.kaemart.it/touch-and-design) financially supported by FP6 IST Programme of the European Union. The project purpose is developing a system that aims at offering the possibility to build digital models of products using interaction modalities that are typical of the production of hand-made prototypes. It will also be possible to evaluate the digital models of products by touching them with hands. The system is expected to be easy, intuitive and pleasant to use for both designers and modelers so as to convince them to adopt it as daily working tool. The project has started analyzing the current design process of the partners operating in the industrial design sector, and observing how designers and modelers operate. The paper describes the design process and the observations performed at Eiger, one of the project partners, that is a Spanish company designing and developing household articles. Besides, the paper describes T’nD system concepts, scenarios and the first developed prototype, and discusses how the innovative T’nD system is expected to improve the design process of Eiger.
Download: INGEGRAF2005-bordegoni-et-al.pdf