Browsing by Author "Streit, Lisa"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The 3D Tractus: A Three-Dimensional Drawing Board
    (2005-08-26) Lapides, Paul; Sharlin, Ehud; Costa Sousa, Mario; Streit, Lisa
    We present the 3D Tractus: a simple and inexpensive system for interaction and exploration of three-dimensional (3D) data. The device is based on a traditional drawing board-like mechanical structure that can be easily moved up and down while its surface height is being tracked using a simple sensor. Users interact with a tablet or tablet PC that rests on the surface while simultaneously changing its height. The result is direct mapping of virtual and physical spaces allowing intuitive 3D interaction and data exploration. The 3D Tractus allows us to investigate novel 3D interaction techniques based on sketching and drawing as well as intuitive visual indicators and GUI layouts. The 3D Tractus' simple design concept can be easily adapted to other tabletop systems and the simple nature of the physical interaction allows the design of various exciting applications. We detail here the design and development of the 3D Tractus hardware and software as well as preliminary evaluation of a 3D drawing and sketching application realized using the new tabletop interface.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Modeling Plant Variations through 3D Interactive Sketches
    (2005-12-06) Streit, Lisa; Lapides, Paul; Costa Sousa, Mario; Sharlin, Ehud
    Modeling of realistic looking plants is still a complex problem requiring specification of the plant structure, geometry and surface characteristics. Modeling a collection of plants is more problematic especially since each plant is slightly different. Altering the shape of branches and stems is one of the most dramatic and natural methods of creating differing instances of the same plant type. In this paper, we present a sketch-based interface for modeling plant variations through specification of branch and stem shape. Our system is based on interaction with the 3D Tractus: a new physical interface we developed to support direct 3D sketching. The 3D strokes from the 3D Tractus are used as input to a biologically-based modeling method that mimics natural growth variation factors of real plants.