12,904 research outputs found
Conceptual Modeling in Product Design within Virtual Reality Environments: Interaction and Geometry Representation
No full textConceptual modeling in product design within virtual reality environments
No full textDigitalization has already permeated most of the design activities, but in spite of this, the generation of visual representations of concepts in the product design domain still relies on analog tools in real-world contexts. Despite immersive 3D technologies, such as Virtual Reality, have become widely available and affordable, most designers still make use of pencils and paper sheets, or their digital counterparts, to sketch their initial ideas on 2D supports. This study aims at investigating the reasons behind the mismatch between the rapid growth of immersive technologies and their scarce adoption in the conceptual design activities. Based on the analysis of the state of the art, a classification of the approaches proposing new ways to conduct conceptual representation of products has been drawn. The geometry representation, i.e. parametric or polygonal, and the interaction methods have been taken as metrics to categorize previous works. Weak connections between the modeling paradigm implemented and the interaction methods, lack of spatial faithfulness, ergonomic concerns and the need for quantitative metrics to compare objectively the data resulting from different testing sessions across the various studies are the main issues identified. In order to get concrete evidence of such thoughts, an experimental session has been devised with users from different backgrounds. They were asked to make conceptual sketches of a computer mouse in a traditional fashion, i.e. with pen and paper, and using two off-the-shelf Virtual Reality applications, based on 3D sketching and 3D sculpting respectively. The results are discussed qualitatively by visually comparing the sketches made by the testers, enriched by information deducted by surveying the users before and after the experiments. By comparing the sketches made by each user with the three procedures, preliminary results indicate that VR systems don't bring dramatic improvements compared to traditional 2D sketching tools. Furthermore, despite being enjoyable, VR systems caused physical fatigue, which is a problem that basically does not affect 2D sketching. Despite the size of the sample cannot provide statistical evidence, the outcomes provided good indications about the technology readiness level of Virtual Reality as a conceptual design tool, paving the way for future research directions
Survey of digital tools for the generation of ideas
No full textDuring the concept phase of the industrial design process drawings are used to represent designer’s ideas. More specifically, the designer’s goal is to put the characteristics of ideas on paper so that they can later act as pivotal points in the development of a project. Sketching is also the ideal tool to continue developing an idea: because it is imprecise, the sketch guarantees a high degree of freedom, allowing for changes to made and new ideas to be added. Another possibility is to translate ideas into sketches on computer tools. This approach can allow the designer to use the created 3D model as the basis for further developing ideas. At the present moment, however, this type of solution is not extensively used by designers during the concept phase. Some researchers have identified technical problems as the reason why these instruments have been unsuccessful on the market, while for others this is related to systems still too rigid to be adapted to the often-diverse needs of designers. The research presented in this position paper aims at analyzing what has so far been understood with respect to the process of generating ideas, their initial representation in the concept phase and the tools that have been developed so far to support this phase. Consequently, a discussion on these themes and some hypotheses from which develop new research lines will be presented
Physically-based Rendering of Animated Point Clouds for eXtended Reality
No full textPoint cloud 3D models are gaining increasing popularity due to the
proliferation of scanning systems in various fields, including autonomous vehicles and robotics. When employed for rendering purposes, point clouds are typically depicted with their original
colors acquired during the acquisition, often without taking into
account the lighting conditions of the scene in which the model is
situated. This can result in a lack of realism in numerous contexts,
especially when dealing with animated point clouds used in
eXtended reality applications, where it is desirable for the model
to respond to incoming light and seamlessly blend with the surrounding environment. This paper proposes the application of
physically based rendering (PBR), a rendering technique widely
used in real-time computer graphics applications, to animated
point cloud models for reproducing specular reflections, and
achieving a photo-realistic and physically accurate look under
any lighting condition. To achieve this, we first explore the extension of commonly used animated point cloud formats to incorporate
normal vectors and PBR parameters, like roughness and metalness.
Additionally, the encoding of the animated environment maps necessary for the PBR technique is investigated. Then, an animated
point cloud model is rendered with a shader implementing the proposed PBR method. Finally, we compare the outcomes of this PBR
pipeline with traditional renderings of the same point cloud produced using commonly used shaders, taking into account different
lighting conditions and environments. Through these comparisons,
we demonstrate how the proposed PBR method enhances the visual
integration of the point cloud with its surroundings. Furthermore, it
will be shown that using this rendering technique, it is possible to
render different materials, by exploiting the features of PBR and
the encoding of the surrounding environment
Knowledge Based Engineering and Ontology Engineering Approaches for Product Development: Methods and Tools for Design Automation in Industrial Engineering
No full textThe study illustrated in this paper aims at analyzing the knowledge management issue related to product development. Especially, the focus is on the domains in which Knowledge-based Systems (KBE) and Design Automation (DA) tools could be adopted. In the past various studies, a lot of KBE and DA systems have been developed in multiple fields such as automotive, aerospace, energy, materials and manufacturing: the information treated in these studies are about data relatives to specific design, for example, of automotive engine components, aircraft structures, energy plants, advanced material and manufacturing or assembly lines. In all of these domain the organization and formalization of the knowledge is a critical issue. The adoption of a good strategy to manage data and information relative to products and processes involves benefits in the product development process. Different methodologies are described in literature. The two of the most used are the Object-Oriented (OO) and Ontology Engineering (OE) approaches. The former is one of the most common and adopted in the industrial domain, including a lot of implementations in the recent past years. The latter is more commonly used in other fields, like bio-engineering, used with the scope of management of experimental data; few implementation in industrial engineering have been considered. The article considers a brief description of the state of the art about Knowledge Based Engineering and Ontology Engineering. A case studies will be described and the benefits and disadvantages due to the use of the different methodologies will be discussed.</jats:p
Topology Control and Simplication of Reality-based Meshes for Finite Element Analysis
No full textReverse Engineering has been exploited for several application, e.g measuring and inspection, customt design, cultural heritage. The result of this process is a 3D representation of the targeted object, usually encoded in an unstructured triangulated surface fashion (e.g. an STL le). Going beyond the mere visualization purpose and focusing on engineering products, prediction of mechanical performances is often required, especially for items critical from a structural perspective. Finite Method Analysis (FEA) is a de-facto standard to evaluate mechanical performances, both in academia and industry, but the meshes derived from reverse engineering techniques are not suitable for direct use in FEA solver. In those cases, a proper degree of accuracy, precision and reliability throughout the whole pipeline have to be guaranteed, from the acquisition of the geometry to the analysis of the nal result. Regardless the reverse engineering technology chosen, the standard pipeline requires the acquisition of the chosen object and the post process of the 3D model obtained in order to have a closed 3D mesh. The most important and thorny phase is the one related to the topological check of the 3D mesh and its simplication to obtain a proper model, suitable to be then translated in a computational grid for FEA. The problem is not new in literature [4] but researches have been focused more on large items (e.g. buildings). Firstly, the order of magnitude of the relevant feature is di erent: talking about architectural items, small features, i.e. less than 1mm, are negligible. Secondly, similar researches conducted so far don't evaluate FEA results systematically. This paper aims at comparing dierent methodologies in order to prepare computational mesh of geometries derived from reverse engineering technologies. A benchmark case, i.e. a structural-steel parallelepiped, has been chosen in order to have complete control over the variables involved in the process (both during the reverse engineering and the FEA). The test object has been acquired with a laser scanner and post processed in order to x artifacts. Once the mesh is closed and error-free, two dierent methodology for simplication have been used: a triangular simplication and retopology. The acquired geometry, before and after the simplications, has been compared with the reference model (i.e. a 3D geometry created using CAD geometric primitive): mean and standard deviation between the baseline model and the acquired geometries has been tracked. Finally, a tensile test has been simulated making use of a FEA software and the results have been compared with the theoretical solution
Generative Design and Topology Optimization of Disk Brake Floating Carrier
No full textIn the last past years, computer-aided technologies to improve existing products by widening the design space have been largely investigated. Topology optimization and generative design are two of the most representative technologies of such kind. This paper aims at investigating the use of generative design and topology optimization techniques to improve products whose design has not changed radically over the years. The product under investigation is a disk brake floating caliper that is the most common solution for commercial vehicles. In general, increasing the stiffness of the floating caliper while keeping its weight under control is desirable both from performance and fuel consumption point of view. The solution here proposed aims at exploiting two new ways to approach the engineering design process and evaluate which one is more suitable for problems of this kind. Starting from the original carrier shape, acquired with laser scanning, the two technologies have been applied on the same initial conditions. The initial design space volume corresponds to the acquired shape, the loads and the constraints for the simulation have been drawn reasonably to resemble the actual operating conditions. Keeping the input parameters constants, two different off-the-shelf software packages have been used to perform the computation and with the objective of maximizing the stiffness of the carrier while reducing its mass. The comparison and the improvements on the final designs have been drawn taken as reference to the original caliper
A Framework for Digital Twin Development in Manufacturing
No full textThis study explores the application of Digital Twin technology in industrial manufacturing, focusing on the integration of OPC UA communication protocol for data exchange between physical machines and their virtual counterparts. The treatise presents a comprehensive framework for developing and deploying Digital Twins in a manufacturing setting. Through the implementation of this framework, significant challenges encountered in Digital Twin development are addressed, including the intricate process of extracting data from OPC UA servers, the necessity for standardized methodologies for descriptive-based Digital Twins, as well as limitations imposed by the frequency of API calls for data retrieval and the complexities associated with managing large and intricate systems. Furthermore, promising avenues for future exploration are proposed, such as the advancement of open-source OPC UA servers and the emergence of web-based Digital Twins as accessible and collaborative platforms for industrial applications. A case study involving a CNC machining center demonstrates the practical utility of the developed framework for monitoring and diagnostics of industrial processes
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