Collaborative Augmented Reality in CAD Design
Marcin Januszka, Wojciech A. Moczulski · Machine Dynamics Problems · 2006
Abstract Design visualization in a more intuitive and clear way plays an important role in achieving proper understanding of the design. The technology of augmented reality (AR), as a kind of new user interface, should introduce completely new perspective for the computer aided design systems. Augmented reality mode for changing views of the model and completely understanding the model content is more efficient than traditional one. Despite the fact that it is still a new technology at a relatively initial state of development, augmented reality is very promising. This paper describes initial results of the research concerning an augmented reality system for CAD design. Application of an integrated CAD and AR system proposed by the authors should play an important role in achieving proper understanding of the model content and it will become an integral part of a standard design process. Keywords: augmented reality, 3D CAD, VRML, visualization, design process. 1. Introduction The term Augmented Reality (AR) was first used in 1990 by researchers at Boeing, who developed an AR system to help workers in a Boeing factory put together wiring harnesses. The goal of Augmented Reality systems is to combine the interactive computer-generated world with an interactive real world in such a way that they appear as one environment. Unlike users of Virtual Reality (VR) systems, who are completely immersed in a virtual environment, users of AR systems see virtual objects and the real world coexisting in the same space. It is the goal of Augmented Reality to supplement reality rather than to replace it. The relationship between Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality was described by Paul Milgram, Haruo Takemura, Akira Utsumi, and Fumio Kishino in their Reality-Virtuality Continuum (Milgram et al., 1994). Augmented Reality occupies that place in the