We previously developed a prototype system called "Godzilla" that supports creative design, specifically by car-exterior designers. Godzilla provides an environment in which designers can draw concept image on a 2D pad (a tablet with an LCD), and when they hold the image in midair, the shape of the 2D sketch is automatically recognized and appears as a 3D sketch displayed on a 3D pad (stereovision TVs). Designers can sketch, modify, and view their drawings from different viewpoints in either two or three dimensions. The 3D images are not displayed as beautiful CG images, but as 3D sketches that consist of many 3D cursive lines produced by mimicking the designer's pen touch. Although Godzilla was successfully used on a trial basis at an automobile manufacturer, it has serious drawbacks: (1) the designable shapes are limited to those of cars, (2) the 2D and 3D view areas are separated, and (3) the equipment is expensive. We have now extended Godzilla to overcome these drawbacks: (1) free form design is possible using a combination of seven primitives, (2) presentation is seamless between the 2D and 3D spaces, and (3) off-the-shelf equipment is used. We devised a recognition technique that uses a topology matrix and implemented a user interface for transforming and manipulating the recognized primitives. Two preliminary experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of the system.
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