ABSTRACT BUT TANGIBLE, COMPLEX BUT MANAGEABLE
M.K.D. Coomans, van Jp Jos Leeuwen, Van Leeuwen · 2001
Abstract. In the VR-DIS research programme, an innovative designinformation modelling technique has been developed that is based on features. In this modelling technique, the designer is invited not only to model the form and spatial aspects of his or her design, but also to model the structure of the data behind the design. The designer is offered a way to control how design characteristics are structured and stored. With this new information modelling technique, we expect that the designers will be better capable to handle the complexity of diverse kinds of information involved in a design process. This new way of computer aided design offers a unique design freedom: any design concept becomes addressable. On the other hand, this technique also puts the responsibility for the content of the CAD database entirely in the hands of the designer. In order to be able to enjoy the design freedom fully and at the same time handle the responsibility over the design database, a computer tool is needed that shows the precise content of the database, and that is easy and quick to interact with. We have developed a 3D graphical User Interface to realise this requirement. It shows the data objects in a 3D interactive graph. The intuitiveness and user friendliness of the interface was improved by adding features like the visualisation of the browsing history, the visualisation of link-semantics, and animated visual feedback effects. The hardware part of the interface is worked out as a Fish Tank VR set-up. This hardware configuration improves the experienced realism of the displayed 3D objects up to a feeling of physical presence. The interface as a whole therefore provides a highly attractive display of the abstract design data; abstract but tangible. It is a tool in which complex data structures can be explored and controlled: complex but manageable. 2 M.K.D. COOMANS AND J.P. VAN LEEUWEN 1.