This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop a Virtual Clay system comprised of a patent-pending sensor-enabled glove (called the ModelGlove), and a physics-based simulation engine which presents the user with a virtual 3D representation of modeling clay. The glove enables a designer to mold and shape the virtual clay with his or her fingers and hand, just as he or she would with physical clay. Clay modeling was pioneered by General Motors in 1914, and remains a popular technique. Since the early 80's, the computer aided design (CAD) market has grown dramatically, and 3D CAD has become the most technically-advanced tool for designing complex shapes. However, very little work has been done to merge the physical clay and CAD environments. Virtual Clay aims to fuse these environments, blurring the line between art and engineering and giving designers a unified modeling tool at all stages of development.
By advancing the state of the art in design and opening new worlds of design to mechanical engineers designing and modeling products, broad impacts are anticipated. The Virtual Clay system represents a significant advancement in wearable computing, where the user directly manipulates a virtual object with his or her hand. Further, a physics-based simulation of clay in a design environment promises to open new areas of exploration in the CAD world. By giving control to the user of not only the design, but the simulation environment itself (the user can control how soft or hard the clay is, for example), a whole new way of thinking about how simulation and CAD can evolve. Further, artists and engineers will benefit from being able to watch and decipher every manipulation that an expert modeler has completed on the virtual clay. Bringing a physical medium to a digital environment will thus open up numerous possibilities in design, assessment and analysis, testing, and collaboration.
