Description
In addition to stereoscopic visualization, virtual and augmented reality technologies allow the use of natural user interfaces. In the context of digital product development, this provides enormous potential for a more intuitive, efficient and effective design of work steps that were previously carried out using a computer mouse and keyboard. This is of particular interest for the preliminary design, for which neither hand sketches nor current CAD applications represent ideal tools.
In this context, a method for natural finger interaction is conceptualized, which is based on a combination of physical simulation and heuristic approaches. In order to assess the applicability of natural interaction in the CAD context, VR-based methods for CAD-assembly modelling and CAD-preliminary design modelling are elaborated. The method for preliminary design modelling, which is central to the present dissertation, enables the user to create the geometry of a preliminary design. Using natural finger interaction, basic bodies chosen from a modular box of building blocks can be created, modified and linked via boolean operations.
The evaluation results of the performed user studies indicate significant efficiency advantages of natural finger interaction for the arrangement of objects in space for tasks with more than two degrees of freedom compared to interaction via computer mouse. Assembly modeling and preliminary design modeling also benefit significantly in terms of efficiency and learnability compared to user interfaces that are currently utilized. In summary, the investigations lead to the conclusion that natural finger interaction offers significant advantages for the CAD-modelling workflow in the context of preliminary design shape synthesis.
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