Dartmouth Events

Title: From computer-aided to computationally augmented design: harnessing spatial computing for interactive 3D design and fabrication

Abstract:

Across industrial, architectural, and product design workflows, computer-aided design (CAD) tools for visualizing to-be-fabricated objects excel in their ability to efficiently and precisely represent geometry, but remain highly abstracted from real-world environmental contexts and accessible only to highly trained specialists accustomed to such abstractions. This contrasts with traditional artistic workflows, which benefit from deep engagement with real-world materials, making, and other embodied experiences that are accessible to broad audiences of even novice creative users. In my current research, I explore how emerging spatial computing interfaces traversing the reality-virtuality continuum can be harnessed to enhance the expressivity, interactivity, and accessibility of modern computational 3D design tools. In this talk, I will present my work here in the context of multicolor 3D printing, which leverages real-time physics-based animation, computer vision machine learning, and emerging extended reality interfaces to introduce a novel interactive approach for situated 3D design space exploration. Taking this work as a case study, I will conclude by presenting a framework for how immersive environments may be leveraged to rethink CAD and propose more interactive and intuitive approaches for computationally augmented 3D design and fabrication, across creative disciplines.

Bio:

Gabriel Lipkowitz is a PhD candidate at Stanford University, where his research interests are in computational fabrication, spatial computing, and technical human-computer interaction. His work is published in conferences including ACM UIST, CHI, and SCF. Gabriel teaches courses and mentors students in the areas of computational design, personal fabrication, and extended reality. Prior to Stanford, Gabriel received an MSc from Imperial College London as a Fulbright scholar, and he holds an AB from Princeton.