A cameraphone-based approach for the generation of 3D models from paper sketches

Parts of the research work disclosed in this paper are subject to a pending patent application number 2130.Due to the advantages it offers, a sketch-based user-interface (UI) has been utilised in various domains, such as 3D modelling, 'graphical user-interface' design, 3D animation of cartoon characters, etc. However, its benefits have not yet been adequately exploited with those of a mobile phone, despite that the latter is nowadays a widely used wireless handheld device for mobile communication. Given this scenario, this paper discloses a novel approach of using a paper sketch-based UI, which combines the benefits of paper sketching and those of a cameraphone (a mobile phone with an integrated camera), in the domain of early form design modelling. More specifically, the framework disclosed and evaluated in this paper, enables users to remotely obtain visual representations of 3D geometric models from freehand sketches by combining the portability of paper with that of cameraphones. Based on this framework, a prototype tool has been implemented and evaluated. Despite the limitations of the current prototype tool, the evaluation results of the framework s underlying concepts and of the prototype tool collectively indicate that the idea disclosed in this paper contributes in providing users with a mobile sketch-based interface, which can also be used in other domains, beyond early form design modelling.peer-reviewe

Experiments with a cameraphone-aided design (CpAD) system

Paper-based freehand sketching is still widely used by practicing designers to externalise their early form design solutions. Existing Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems are mostly used in later design stages, as their user-interface lacks the fluidity of freehand sketching. To combine the benefits of sketching with those of 3D modelling technology, various Computer-Aided Sketching (CAS) tools have been developed. However, research efforts in this field were focused on integrating digital sketching with 3D modelling technology, thereby replacing the natural, portable and readily available paper medium. It is frequent that designers also think of concepts outside their design office. In view of this, a sketching medium that is portable and readily available to use, is required to instantly capture the flow of design ideas. Based on these arguments, this paper reports the on-going development of a cameraphone-aided design (CPAD) system. Such a system enables designers to remotely obtain visual representations of 3D geometric models from freehand sketches, by exploiting paper portability with that of cameraphones. Although limitations were identified from a prototype CPAD tool implemented, evaluation results collectively justify further research on the CPAD approach being developed.peer-reviewe

Factory planning through paper-based computer-aided sketching

Sketching has long served as a means to quickly express ideas in the early stages of design. Whilst CAD systems offer visualization capabilities that are not offered by a sketch, such technology is not exploited in the early stages, as it does not allow sketching as input. For this reason, Computer Aided Sketching (CAS) technology has been developed to combine the benefits of sketching with CAD. Yet, although this technology has been applied in a range of domains (such as architecture, product design, graphical user-interface design etc.), it has not yet been exploited for shop floor planning. In view of this, the research disclosed in this paper concerns the on-going development of a framework allowing users to quickly have a 3D CAD model of a factory directly from paper-based sketches of the factory. A visual language was developed such that it allows factory designers to schematically represent the shop floor, whilst at the same time facilitates off-line computer-processing of the sketches.peer-reviewe

A Thesis on Sketch-Based Techniques for Mesh Deformation and Editing

The goal of this research is to develop new and more intuitive ways for editing a mesh from a static camera angle. I present two ways to edit a mesh via a simple sketching system. The first method is a gray-scale editor which allows the user to specify a fall off function for the region being deformed. The second method is a profile editor in which the user can re-sketch a mesh’s profile. Lastly, the types of edits possible will be discussed and our results will be presented

A Future Archaeology of the Mobile Telecoms Industry.

In 2000, five consortia spent twenty billion pounds on UK radio spectrum licences for 3rd Generation mobile telephony or '3G'. They were investing in a future, in a specific story of the future, a story of ubiquitous wireless telecommunications. The thesis addresses questions raised in social studies of science and technology as to how such a future is made in everyday practices inside the industry, and how this future might be made otherwise. The research draws on Donna Haraway's method of 'interference' into the making of technoscientific knowledge. Rather than simply critique the future of the mobile telecoms industry, the thesis develops two methods that enact two different interferences into the making of the future in the industry. Both methods begin with a four month ethnography at a design studio of a major mobile phone manufacturer, extended interviews with key informants throughout the industry, and a substantial documentary archive. This forms a necessarily partial and fragmentary set of evidence from which multiple accounts may be reconstructed. The first method is ethnographic, and draws on the evidence to form an account of the industry and its futures situated close to London. The second method is archaeological, and draws on the evidence to form an account of the industry and its futures situated close to the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney' World Heritage Site on the archipelago of Orkney, Scotland - a method of Future Archaeology. Through these two methods the thesis explores and demonstrates the effect of location and landscape on the making of the future in the mobile telecoms industry. And it demonstrates the important role of writing-as-method within social studies of science and technology

The Human Use of the Human Face: The Photographic Self-­Portrait in the Age of the Selfie

Karen Ann Donnachie's research explores the phenomenon of the selfie as a vehicle for the mass projection of self and the effect it has on contemporary notions of identity, society and photography. During her practice-led research, Donnachie created electronic, algorithmic and Internet artworks including self-made and self-programmed ‘selfie’ cameras. This thesis maps the complex genre of the selfie between performance, narcissism, social tic, intrinsic desire for self-projection and a quest for authenticity and human connection

Pervasive Image Capture and the First Amendment: Memory, Discourse, and the Right to Record

As digital image technology proliferates in camera phones, iPhones, and PDAs, almost any image we observe can be costlessly recorded, freely reproduced and instantly transmitted. We live, relate, work, and decide in an environment in which pervasive image capture from life is routine. During the last half decade, captured images have come to underpin crucial elements of ongoing private and public discourse; digital image capture has become a ubiquitous adjunct to memory and a pervasively accepted mode of connection and correspondence. Digitally captured images precipitate conflicts between government authority and free expression. From efforts to suppress cell phone videos of official abuse or private malfeasance to prosecutions of “sexting,” the proliferation of digital image technology will require legal decision makers to come to grips with the First Amendment status of pervasive image capture. This Article commences the task. I begin by parsing the technological trends that have set the stage for pervasive image capture as a social practice, and proceed to sketch the emerging ecology of visual memory and discourse. I then canvass legal developments that threaten to shadow the promise of the new medium, and their proper analysis under the First Amendment. I argue against the claims of earlier legal analysts that the process of recording images is unprotected action; in contemporary social practice, image capture is part of a protected medium of expression. I close with an initial account of the proper scope of First Amendment shelter for the promise of pervasive image capture