Grant: Idea to Innovation

We propose to develop a 3D software package, named Design2Model, that will enable designers to create three dimensional (3D) models directly from two dimensional (2D) concept sketches. Sketching is the first step in design, whether it is a drawing of a new concept car, a virtual spaceship for a movie, or a do-it-yourself customized 3D printed toy. Currently these design sketches are used purely as a reference when the designer proceeds to create the actual 3D model using conventional modeling software. In contrast, a person can view a 2D designer sketch of an object and instantly understand the 3D model depicted by the sketch. Having an algorithm which mimics this process would enable designers to directly convert their sketches into 3D models, reducing the need for cumbersome modeling software. With its powerful algorithms, Design2Model mimics how the human brain interprets 2D sketches and creates a 3D model directly from the sketch. It requires minimal user intervention and will enable designers to quickly convert sketches to 3D models necessary for advanced manufacturing, 3D printing, virtual asset creation for games and movies, or computer-aided engineering (CAE) applications. The final product will be a set of integrated software libraries that enable a designer to sketch and output a 3D model in all common formats. This software could be sold as a stand-alone application or be integrated into software products sold by companies such as Adobe, Corel, or Autodesk.We are uniquely positioned to achieve this goal by combining a series of algorithms, recently developed by us, that transform 2D design drawings into surfaced 3D models. These methods, centered around the True2Form algorithm for converting 2D concept sketches into 3D curve networks, define the state of the art in sketch-based modeling of man-made shapes and outperform existing methods in terms of workflow, ease of use, versatility, and robustness. Key elements of our pipeline have been patented.