Institute for Data Analysis and Visualization

Virtual Environments (VEs) have the potential to revolutionize traditional product design by enabling the transition from conventional CAD to fully digital product development. The presented prototype system targets closing the **digital gap'' as introduced by the need for physical models such as clay models or mockups in the traditional product design and evaluation cycle. We describe a design environment that provides an intuitive human-machine interface for the creation and manipulation of three-dimensional (3D) models in a semi-immersive design space, focussing on ease of use and increased productivity for both designer and CAD engineers.