Surface Reconstruction Method for Reverse Engineering Based on Aesthetic Knowledge

The current limited use of Reverse Engineering (RE) techniques, despite the large number of potential applicative fields, highlights the need to study new methodologies and computer-based tools in order to simplify the process and to improve the quality of final result. In the context of free-form shape styling products development, the requirement is particularly emphasized. During the first stage the designer represents ideas by sketching and sculpturing wood or clay models. After such a creative phase, the process is characterized by several iterative design reviews realized directly on the physical mock up, which, finally, has to be converted into a 3D virtual model for performing the product engineering activities. This conversion, from real to virtual, can be time-consuming and strongly critical in terms of product aesthetic and functional contents preservation. The long-term aims of our research are: the definition of a set of analysis methods for functional features and styling information identification and extraction from the points cloud data, the development of rules for the rapid surface CAD model reconstruction based on the extracted features, and, finally, the implementation of the related 3D modeling software. In this paper we describe the preliminary results related to the definition of a shape-based protocol for the analysis of the aesthetic information, that is based on the application of principles used by the designer during the creative process and on techniques for the representation of creative ideas. A test case is reported to show the approach.