THE NEW COMBINATION OF DIGITAL SKETCHING AND MODELING PROCESS IN IDEA-DEVELOPING STAGE

With the introduction of the computer into different forms of digital applications in the design process, Mitchell strongly recommended a wider application of the new technology in the design process -implying the mutual influence between physical architecture and the sketches, and between physical and digital models. Most important is the possibility of using computer aided design (CAD) to develop ideas in early design stage. During the developing idea stage, the traditional design process from sketching drawings to forming ideas has been transformed to a process where the idea directly proceeds to computer modeling. The aim of this approach is to tackle the above issues created by the introduction of computer technology, trying to produce the same possibilities during the computer modeling process as that in the cognitive behavior of sketching. Also, the designer usually realizes the abstract concepts with the aid of the 2D sketches and the 3D physical models; but between the traditional sketches and the models, a large degree of disagreement always exists. Therefore, this work aims to develop a new formula for employing digital media, which will enable the designer to envisage 2D sketches and computer models simultaneously. In this scenario, the designer can remain aware of cognitive behavior in sketching while constructing computer models. Y. H. HUANG AND J. Y. LEE 2 1. Reviews of design media Design media -ranging from early hand-drawn pictures; to three dimensional models; to computer based drawings, models, animations, and virtual reality -transfer the abstract concepts in the human brain into a format of the reality. Various levels of design concepts could be achieved by applying different types of design media, although each is restricted in its own way. A hand-made sketch was the earliest means employed to outline the design ideas, and remains the quickest and most convenient design medium to this day. However, although perspective drawings on papers can represent reality fairly well, the sense of three-dimensional space is not easily achieved by 2D drawings. After the Renaissance, with the introduction of 3D models, designers began to have more freedom in the way they expressed the shape and size of an object; and accuracy also improved accordingly (Millon, 1994); The development of computer technology has given a new platform to the design media. Computer drawings and models gradually replaced the traditional sketches and models, allowing designers more control over different levels of space during the design process. Many researches in the computer based design methods have focused on the visual effect and have emphasized the importance of computer media (Rahman, 1992). Based on Rahman’s work, Bai and Liu (1998) presented a new visual effect evaluating process. They indicated that computer media is of great importance to the understanding of the design topic, concept and further development. Schön and Wiggins (1992) emphasized the importance of communication by using sketch media between the designers, even themselves. Many other studies also acknowledged that sketching was the most important part of the idea development process. The essential characteristics during this phase are the huge amount of drawing practice and communication through the sketches (Purcell and Gero, 1998). The influence of the designer and the sketch upon each other is undeniably mutual. Not only is sketching the outer representation of the designer's cognitive process, it also provides an important clue to the visual space envisioned by the designer (Goldschmidt, 1991). Meanwhile, she explained that the sketches in the design process could be used to stimulate more imagination from sketches by designers. When drawing, a designer does not simply demonstrate the images in his mind, but more importantly, the images are triggered through a visual display in the sketching process. Here, two distinctive cognitive behaviors are involved in the visual behavior, namely, the ‘seeing as’ and the ‘seeing that’. Designer will re-illustrate the image through visual cognition, or search for the relevant pictures in the long-term memory (LTM), in order to trigger the unexpected design topic (Goldschmidt, 1991, 1992, 1994). At the initial stage, sketches are used to capture the ambiguous shape and space in THE NEW COMBINATION OF DIGITAL SKETCHING-MODELING. 3 mind through freehand drawing (Kavakli, Scrivener, and Ball, 1998). Suwa and Tversky (1997) revealed that two different perspectives could be used to discuss the role of sketching in the design process: the characteristics of sketches and the relationship between designers and the sketches. The physical model is another type of traditional design media. The first appearance of physical model was the Brunelleschi's famous representation of Florence Cathedral's dome, built during the Renaissance. Because of the limitations of 2D drawings which could not be satisfied by designers to consider the mass and space of a building, 3D models were used to give a more realistic result. Even detailed, sectional models were put to use, in order to investigate the properties of light, materials, and so on. After that, physical models became increasingly popular and were widely exploited for better accuracy, wider range of freedom and a much clearer insight into the designer’s intentions (Millon, 1994). However, this obviously is not the only option for designers to draw sketches. A combination of 2D sketches and 3D models at different stages of the design process would give a versatile representation of an abstract concept. 2. Problem and Objective With the introduction of the computer into different forms of digital applications in the design process, in 1997, Mitchell strongly recommended a wider application of the new technology in the design process -implying the mutual influence between physical architecture and the sketches, and between physical and digital models. In the mean time, computer technology continued to impact the traditional design process in many ways (Liu, 2001). Most important is the possibility of using computer aided design (CAD) to develop ideas in early design stage. During the developing idea stage, the traditional design process from sketching drawings to forming ideas has been transformed to a process where the idea directly proceeds to computer modeling. During this transition, the designer loses the visual cognition practice experienced through the initial sketching period and also the ambiguous shapes and spaces in mind (Kavakli, Scrivener, and Ball, 1998). However, the cognitive point of view that Mitchell proposed in 1993 indicated that creativity should evolve during the emergence of shapes on the sketches from designer’s mind. Thus, with the absence of the sketching stage in the computer modeling process, many potentially valuable possibilities will be lost. The aim of this approach is to tackle the above issues created by the introduction of computer technology, trying to produce the same possibilities during the computer modeling process as that in the cognitive behavior of sketching. Also, the designer usually realizes the abstract concepts with the Y. H. HUANG AND J. Y. LEE 4 aid of the 2D sketches and the 3D physical models; but between the traditional sketches and the models, a large degree of disagreement always exists. In other words, the designer is not capable of thinking in both design media at the same time. Therefore, this work aims to develop a new formula for employing digital media, which will enable the designer to envisage 2D sketches and computer models simultaneously. In this scenario, the designer can remain aware of cognitive behavior in sketching while constructing computer models.