SM Thesis. Istanbul Technical University. 2011

Three-dimensional perception facilitated by physical model making supports the creative process and enhances the designer’s ability to evaluate the formal qualities of their design. In our this thesis, we aim to sustain this support in different design environments and study the transfer of the hand motions used in the physical model making processes and use in the digital design environments. We show the results from the observations taken from the conceptual model making processes and analyze the actions involved in these processes as the first step of the research. Depending on this observations we classify the actions according to the main characteristics of the hand motions and propose a recognition schema to be processed in the digital platform. Following the analysis and the classification of the hand motions used in the model making process we aim on translating these hand motions into the digital platform. We discuss the technologies and methods used for hand motion capturing and recognition, and develop a design environment utilizing the hand motions used in the model making processes. We finalize our approach by presenting a set of algorithms for the object deformations conducted with the hand motions. Finally, we test the design environment and discuss the results.