Spacedesign: Conceptual styling and design review in augmented reality

Virtual Prototyping reduces the need of physical prototypes - the so-called Mock-ups -, but at the moment no commercial good is realized without a concrete and tangible example. Spacedesign is an innovative Augmented Reality (AR) application addressed to aesthetic design and review, which uses semi-transparent stereo glasses to augment physical models by three-dimensional computer-generated images, additional geometries, annotations, materials, and textures. Direct 3D input, intuitive real-time surfacing, 3D visualization and semi-immersivity (i.e. possibility of using real object as reference) realize in Spacedesign a unique and ideal workspace for creation, modification and evaluation of new shapes and ideas. Remarkable time and resources saving in the overall product development, improved quality and consistency between the modified prototype and the original CAD data can be thus realized. As far as the authors are concerned, there is no known similar approach for a Computer Aided Styling-System in AR environment. Herein we see the major contribution of our research