ELASTICK: A VISION BASED INTERFACE FOR DESIGNING SPATIAL CURVES AND SURFACES

摘要

Computer systems are widely used in mechanical design process, but their user interfaces and devices are not sufficient for designers to create sophisticated shapes. Various kinds of 3D input devices are not so useful either in terms of functions and costs. We propose a vision based interface called "Elastick" using an elastic stick and a digital camera which allows a designer to input smooth spatial curve very easily. It does not require any expensive, special devices and environments. The designer bends the stick to form a desired spatial curve. A digital camera is used to take an image of the stick, from which a spatial curve is reconstructed. A method developed by Pentland(PENTLAND, 1989) is used to reconstruct a spatial curve from a single image. In this paper, methods and algorithms used for Elastick are described and its application for generating mesh models are demonstrated.