17-03-2014, 08:31 PM
ABSTRACT
CaveCAD is our in-house developed 3D modeling tool, which runs
in immersive virtual reality environments, such as CAVEs. We built
it from the ground up, in collaboration with architects, to explore
how immersive 3D interaction systems can support 3D modeling
tasks. CaveCAD offers typical 3D modeling functions, such as geometry
creation, modification of existing geometry, assignment of
surface materials and textures, the use of libraries of 3D components,
geographical placement functions, and shadows. CaveCAD
goes beyond traditional 3D modeling tools by utilizing direct 3D interaction
methods. We evaluated our modeling system by running
a small pilot study with four participants: two novice users and two
expert users were tasked to build Disney World’s magic castle.
Index Terms: H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]:
User Interfaces—Graphical user interfaces (GUI); J.6 [Computer
Applications]: Computer-Aided Engineering—Computeraided
design (CAD)
1 INTRODUCTION
CaveCAD was designed as a software package for computer-aided
design that provides architectural designers with the ability to design
within 3D immersive virtual reality environments. Compared
with existing software applications like Autodesk 3dsMax, Maya,
AutoCAD and Google SketchUp that normally run on flat 2D
screens with a limited field of view, CaveCAD enables designers
to gain a pure 3D experience in human-scale modeling, utilizing
the stereo rendering facilities of our StarCAVE [3]. Competing
approaches, which allow running an existing 3D modeling tool,
such as the ones listed above, on a virtual reality system by intercepting
OpenGL calls, such as Conduit [2] or TechViz [6], do
not allow 3D interaction with the geometry, but instead merely provide
a way to view the 3D model immersively. Another distinctive
feature CaveCAD provides is a more intuitive approach to the design
process by replacing panels of buttons and flat list-style menus
with interactive multi-functional displays of design instructions and
options, which allow using the software without intensive training
and to build blueprints from scratch in a quick and convenient way.
CaveCAD also incorporates a set of tools to increase rendering realism,
for instance by creating real-time shadows based on userdefined
settings for location, date and time.
2 RELATED WORK
A number of 3D modeling systems for virtual environments have
been created in the past. Some of them are geared towards freeform
drawing, such as Brown university’s CAVE Painting project [5].
Others use 3D sculpting approaches, in which a solid object gets
modified with freeform 3D operations, such as Galyean et al. [4].
While CaveCAD is geared towards cluster-based VR systems, others
have been implemented with head mounted displays in mind,
e-mail:cehughes[at]eng.ucsd.edu
†e-mail:jschulze[at]ucsd.edu
such as Butterworth et al.’s [1]. Existing virtual reality toolkits,
such asWorldViz [7], are designed to be used to implement VR applications,
similar to CalVR, but they do not readily come with 3D
modeling applications.
CaveCAD is our in-house developed 3D modeling tool, which runs
in immersive virtual reality environments, such as CAVEs. We built
it from the ground up, in collaboration with architects, to explore
how immersive 3D interaction systems can support 3D modeling
tasks. CaveCAD offers typical 3D modeling functions, such as geometry
creation, modification of existing geometry, assignment of
surface materials and textures, the use of libraries of 3D components,
geographical placement functions, and shadows. CaveCAD
goes beyond traditional 3D modeling tools by utilizing direct 3D interaction
methods. We evaluated our modeling system by running
a small pilot study with four participants: two novice users and two
expert users were tasked to build Disney World’s magic castle.
Index Terms: H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]:
User Interfaces—Graphical user interfaces (GUI); J.6 [Computer
Applications]: Computer-Aided Engineering—Computeraided
design (CAD)
1 INTRODUCTION
CaveCAD was designed as a software package for computer-aided
design that provides architectural designers with the ability to design
within 3D immersive virtual reality environments. Compared
with existing software applications like Autodesk 3dsMax, Maya,
AutoCAD and Google SketchUp that normally run on flat 2D
screens with a limited field of view, CaveCAD enables designers
to gain a pure 3D experience in human-scale modeling, utilizing
the stereo rendering facilities of our StarCAVE [3]. Competing
approaches, which allow running an existing 3D modeling tool,
such as the ones listed above, on a virtual reality system by intercepting
OpenGL calls, such as Conduit [2] or TechViz [6], do
not allow 3D interaction with the geometry, but instead merely provide
a way to view the 3D model immersively. Another distinctive
feature CaveCAD provides is a more intuitive approach to the design
process by replacing panels of buttons and flat list-style menus
with interactive multi-functional displays of design instructions and
options, which allow using the software without intensive training
and to build blueprints from scratch in a quick and convenient way.
CaveCAD also incorporates a set of tools to increase rendering realism,
for instance by creating real-time shadows based on userdefined
settings for location, date and time.
2 RELATED WORK
A number of 3D modeling systems for virtual environments have
been created in the past. Some of them are geared towards freeform
drawing, such as Brown university’s CAVE Painting project [5].
Others use 3D sculpting approaches, in which a solid object gets
modified with freeform 3D operations, such as Galyean et al. [4].
While CaveCAD is geared towards cluster-based VR systems, others
have been implemented with head mounted displays in mind,
e-mail:cehughes[at]eng.ucsd.edu
†e-mail:jschulze[at]ucsd.edu
such as Butterworth et al.’s [1]. Existing virtual reality toolkits,
such asWorldViz [7], are designed to be used to implement VR applications,
similar to CalVR, but they do not readily come with 3D
modeling applications.