Enhancing Sketching and Sculpting for Shape Modeling

Abstract

Sketch-based modeling uses freeform strokes as basic modeling metaphor and provides an intuitive way for shape modeling, for instance, for cyberworlds. This paper presents a new method to enhance sketch-based modeling. The core idea of the method is to enhance the sketching process by allowing the user to iteratively sketch to progressively create initial shapes that interpolate the sketched strokes. This process considers all the sketches and the up-to-date constructed 3D shape, which enables the user to be aware of the shape of the sketched model. The key underlying technique that supports this process is a novel surface construction algorithm, which generates 3D triangular mesh models with gradual shape changes during iterative sketching. Experiments demonstrate that the presented method can allow users to intuitively and flexibly create and edit 3D models even with complex topology, which is usually difficult in existing sketch-based modeling systems.