Preserving the freedom of paper in a computer-based sketch tool

Abstract. The tradeoff between the ease of sketching a me-chanical system on paper and the power of representing it on a computer is too great, as evidenced by the fact that mechanical designers typically begin by sketching their designs on paper, then transfer them to the computer only after the initial design process is complete. To bring early design to the computer, we must develop a tool that allows the user to sketch freely, yet still interprets and understands the user’s drawing as a me-chanical system. We present a tool that allows users to sketch simple 2-D mechanisms and report on early reactions to it.