CavePainting, Drawing on Air, and Next Generation Free-Form 3D Modeling Tools
Multi-Touch Input and Above-the-Surface Gestures for Free-Form 3D Modeling
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Drawing on Air
Drawing on Air is a free-from 3D modeling system that uses a new haptic-aided input technique for drawing controlled 3D curves through space. Drawing on Air addresses a control problem with prior 3D modeling approaches based on sweeping movement of the hands through the air. While artists praise the immediacy and intuitiveness of these systems, a lack of control makes it nearly impossible to create 3D form beyond quick design sketches or gesture drawings. Drawing on Air introduces two new strategies for more controlled 3D drawing: one-handed drag drawing and two-handed tape drawing. Both approaches have advantages for drawing certain types of curves. Drawing on Air also introduces a tangent preserving method for transitioning between the two techniques while drawing. Haptic-aided redrawing and line weight adjustment while drawing are also supported in both approaches. Drawing on Air has been used for both art practice and scientific sketching applications.
Popular Press
- Anil Ananthaswamy. Gizmos allow artists to 'feel' their creations. New Scientist, 2733:28-29, November 9 2009.
- Tracy Staedter. Painting 3D animations. Discovery Tech, Discovery Channel Online, October 2008.
- Bernardo Provid^encia. SIRKEL Teknisk Kunstmagasin (K.E.M. Oslo, Norway), August 2008.
- Technology update: Draw on air. Vision: Looking at the Future of Learning (UK), Winter/Spring 2008.
- a peek at what's brewing in the laboratory: Making 3D art out of thin air. Computer Power User Magazine, 8(2), February 2008.
- Darren Murph. Brown university demonstrates drawing on air system. engadget.com, November 2007.
- Stefan Anitel. How to draw in 3d: drawing on air. softpedia.com, November 2007.
- Tracy Staedter. New tech lets you draw in the air. Discovery Channel News (online), October 2007.
- Haydar Taygun. Csers develop new 3D design tool. Brown Daily Herald, October 2007.
- Roland Piquepaille. Drawing on air with haptics in 3D. Slashdot.com, September 2007.
- Roland Piquepaille. Drawing on air. ZDNet: Emerging Technology Trends, September 2007.
- Lisa Zyga. Artists draw on air to create 3d illustrations. PHYSORG.com, September 2007.
- Jen Grey. Daniel keefe, cavepainter. ACM SIGGRAPH Arts (online: arts.siggraph.org), July 2006.
CavePainting Links
Popular Press
CavePainting
CavePainting is an artistic medium that uses a 3D analog of 2D brush strokes to create 3D works of art in an immersive virtual reality Cave environment. Like charcoal lines or paint strokes, these 3-dimensional marks are a fluid, highly flexible visual language that is brought to life by an interface responsive to the artist. The virtual reality interface is composed completely of physical props and gestures.
Creating in CavePainting is a new way of working and thinking. While a painter often steps back from his work or a sculptor steps around his work or even holds it in his hand, a CavePainter stands up and walks through his work, grabs and rotates it in his hand, shrinks or enlarges it on a whim, and finally manipulates color variations and stroke size, shape, and placement to create a visual representation for complex forms. Many of these operations have no counterpart in the physical world, thus they allow interactions and make possible the creation of a form that would otherwise not exist. For example, paint strokes would not be able to float or co-inhabit the same volume in the physical world.
Artists are excited about this new form of art and the full-body experience of creating it. CavePainting inspires playfullness, exploration, and creativity. While creating with the system, artists fill the Cave with their movements, dancing and painting to music or lying down on the floor and painting while looking up at the projection surfaces are common activities.

Nailing Down Multi-Touch: Anchored Above the Surface Interaction for 3D Modeling and Navigation
Bret Jackson, David Schroeder, Daniel F. Keefe
Proceedings of Graphics Interface, 2012

Scientific Sketching for Collaborative VR Visualization Design
Daniel F. Keefe, Daniel Acevedo, Jadrian Miles, Fritz Drury, Sharon M. Swartz, David H. Laidlaw
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2008

Tech-note: Dynamic Dragging for Input of 3D Trajectories
Daniel F. Keefe, Robert C. Zeleznik, David H. Laidlaw
Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on 3D User Interfaces 2008, 2008

Drawing on Air: Input Techniques for Controlled 3D Line Illustration
Daniel F. Keefe, Robert C. Zeleznik, David H. Laidlaw
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2007

Artistic Collaboration in Designing VR Visualizations
Daniel F. Keefe, David B. Karelitz, Eileen L. Vote, David H. Laidlaw
IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 2005

Pop through buttons for virtual environment navigation and interaction
Robert C. Zeleznik, Joseph J. LaViola, Daniel Acevedo, Daniel F. Keefe
Proceedings of Virtual Reality 2002, 2002

Visual Space After Virtual Reality
Steven Schkolne, Daniel F. Keefe
Proceedings of Young VR 2001, 2001

CavePainting: A Fully Immersive 3D Artistic Medium and Interactive Experience
Daniel F. Keefe, Daniel Acevedo Feliz, Tomer Moscovich, David H. Laidlaw, Joseph J. LaViola Jr.
Proceedings of I3D 2001, 2001

Immersive VR Touch Workbenches: Applications in Engineering and Art
Dane Coffey, Bret Jackson, Daniel F. Keefe
The 3rd Dimension of CHI (3DCHI) Touching and Designing 3D User Interfaces Workshop at CHI 2012, 2012

Free-Form VR Interactions in Scientific Visualization
Daniel F. Keefe
IEEE Visualization 2008 Workshop on Scientific Workflow with Immersive Interfaces for Visualization, 2008

Case Studies in Building Custom Input Devices for Virtual Environment Interaction
Joseph J. LaViola, Daniel F. Keefe, Robert C. Zeleznik, Daniel Acevedo Feliz
VR 2004 Workshop: Beyond Glove and Wand Based Interaction, 2004

Poster: Analysis of Performance in Precise 3D Curve Input Tasks in Virtual Reality
Daniel F. Keefe, David H. Laidlaw
IEEE Visualization (Best Posters Session), 2007

Poster: Teaching Science in Virtual Reality with a Freehand 3D Illustration
Jadrian Miles, Daniel F. Keefe, Daniel Acevedo, Fritz Drury, Sharon M. Swartz, David H. Laidlaw
IEEE Information Visualization, 2007

Poster: A Haptic Interface for Creating Smooth 3D Curves with Varying Line Weight
Daniel F. Keefe, David H. Laidlaw
SIGGRAPH 2005 (Student Research Award), 2005

Poster: Using CavePainting to Create Scientific Visualizations
David B. Karelitz, Daniel F. Keefe, David H. Laidlaw
IEEE Visualization 2003, 2003