MixFab: a mixed-reality environment for personal fabrication

Personal fabrication machines, such as 3D printers and laser cutters, are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. However, de-signing objects for fabrication still requires 3D modeling skills, thereby rendering such technologies inaccessible to a wide user-group. In this paper, we introduce MixFab, a mixed-reality environment for personal fabrication that low-ers the barrier for users to engage in personal fabrication. Users design objects in an immersive augmented reality envi-ronment, interact with virtual objects in a direct gestural man-ner and can introduce existing physical objects effortlessly into their designs. We describe the design and implementa-tion of MixFab, a user-defined gesture study that informed this design, show artifacts designed with the system and de-scribe a user study evaluating the system’s prototype. Author Keywords personal fabrication; direct manipulation; 3D printing; mixed-reality; 3D modelin