Title: Experimentally exploring the benefits of augmented reality technology in design conceptualisation

Authors: Xiangyu Wang, Jingyu Chen, Hao Zhou

Addresses: Design Lab, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, 148 City Road, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia. ' Department of Communication of Jiangxi Province, Level 7, 12, ShenFuDaYuanXiEr Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi, P.R. China. ' Communication Design Institute of Jiangxi Province, 4, GongRenXinCunYi Road, Nanchang, Jiangxi, P.R. China

Abstract: Clients and liaison people involved in the negotiations with the designers need to inspect design models that are typically created in CAD software during the stage of conceptual design. These tasks normally require access to the specific software and specialised skills to operate and often involve multiple presentations to various stakeholders. Augmented reality is envisaged to simplify this process by providing a solution based on a natural hands-on mode of navigation for 3D design models. This mode of operation could harness the strengths of the real-world frame of reference and the direct mapping employed by the user interface. Therefore, the learning curve involved is expected to be minimised. This paper presents two sets of empirical experiments to explore augmented virtual environments as a viable method of communication and to quantify their benefits as a design facilitator between designers and clients in the conceptual design phase.

Keywords: augmented reality; collaborative design; conceptual design; design process; visualisation; virtual environments; virtual reality; 3D design; 3D modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDE.2008.023765

International Journal of Design Engineering, 2008 Vol.1 No.3, pp.278 - 299

Published online: 10 Mar 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article