Abstract

A major objective of this research is to develop a natural sketching interface for designers in conceptual design. Based on the literature review on the sketch-based cognitive process, solutions are developed in this thesis to address two major problems that prevent designers from using computer-aided design tools. First , because the lack of a detailed description of a designer's cognitive model, designers have never been put in the centre of consideration in the development of a CAD tool. This thesis proposes a new approach for the exploration of the designer's cognitive model by applying the axiomatic theory of design modeling. Second , the user mental model underlying the existing CAD tools do not match the actual designer's mental model. To eliminate the gap between two mental models, this thesis develops a prototype of natural interface based on PUI (Perceptual User Interface) theory. This natural interface uses gesture commands to replace menu and button. ANN (Artificial Neural Network) is adopted to recognize the designer's gesture commands