LATEST MECHANICAL ENGINEERING INNOVATION

3D Modeling with Hand Gestures

Recently, Elon Musk described how SpaceX has integrated SiemensNX, software his company uses to design rockets, and Leap Motion, software that turns gestures into computer commands, allowing engineers to more naturally and easily design products. Another combination of programs in widespread use in 3D modeling is “Shape-It-Up” and “Kinect.”

Technology that has made 3D design and modeling possible includes: recognition of symmetric and asymmetric 3-D shapes, Hidden Markov Models (HMM) for recognition of input patterns, “parallel-pipelined” computer algorithms, depth sensing cameras, speech recognition, eye tracking and others which we will look at in future IndustryTap articles.

Engineers report 3-D modeling via gestures allows molding and manipulation of virtual materials as if modeling with clay; 3D designs can be printed on 3D printers in a matter of minutes, speeding up the development process. A team at Purdue University, which has been developing this technology, believes video game developers, design engineers and architects will benefit the most

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