D³: an immersive aided design deformation method

In this paper, we introduce a new deformation method adapted to immersive design. The use of Virtual Reality (VR) in the design process implies a physical displacement of project actors and data between the virtual reality facilities and the design office. The decisions taken in the immersive environment are manually reflected on the Computed Aided Design (CAD) system. This increases the design time and breaks the continuity of data workflow. On this basis, there is a clear demand among the industry for tools adapted to immersive design. But few methods exist that encompass CAD problematic in VR. For this purpose, we propose a new method, called D³, for "Draw, Deform and Design", based on a 2 step manipulation paradigm, consisting with 1) area selection and 2) path drawing, and a final refining and fitting phase. Our method is discussed on the basis of a set of CAD deformation scenarios.