Can simple 3D modelling replace paper

sketching in early ideation phases?

Emil Lande Eriksen
Department of Design
NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

ABSTRACT

Designers are thought to use sketching to visualize ideas and to map their minds. However, many
designers chose to jump straight into 3D-modelling when engaging in new tasks. Increased demand of
efficiency and lack of drawing skills tempt designers to start modelling straight away, as this is a task
that can be very time consuming. The demand for quick and simple 3D ideation tools is increasing, and
new software is becoming available. These tools allow designers to create rougher models that can be
altered and iterated upon. This article will review literature on ideation, sketching and 3D-modelling,
and look at some of the newer software available. The inspiration for this comes from both the
possibility to alter and change designs underway, as well as the benefits of seeing objects in a 3D
atmosphere when exploring shapes during ideation phases.

KEYWORDS: 3d-modelling, sketching, ideation, product design

and decide on the go what works best. What

1. INTRODUCTION
then, if the designer wants to use sketching to
explore complex shapes in three dimensions?
Sketching is an important part of design,
Sketching complex shapes can be very difficult
especially in the early phases where it is often
and time consuming for the average designer and
used as a tool for exploration and to visualize and
with complex sketches you often lose the ability
test the ideas of the designer. Ideas often start as
to easily make changes underway.
a thought in our mind, and from there sketching
can be a tool to further explore that thought and
The intention of this article is to review research
cover inconsistencies or incompleteness. This can
done on traditional sketching as an ideation tool,
be very useful, as our brain may not have the
and to compare that to using 3D modelling
capacity to evaluate, construct and hold designs.
software for the same purpose.
Sketches place the idea on paper, making it
possible for our mind to evaluate and examine
1.1 Article structure
before further iteration. Sketches can also be
used as public representation of our thoughts
The article will first introduce some definitions to
and be reviewed by others and collectively
explain terms used later. Then there will be an
discussed. (Tversky, et al., 2003)
explanation of the method used followed by the
three main themes; ideation, sketching and
Sketching with light strokes or erasers can also
Computer aided design. After that there will be a
help when the designer wants to iterate and
discussion part, where the discoveries and
explore shapes. It lets the designer see shapes

Can simple 3D modelling replace paper sketching in early ideation phases? 1

research will be discussed, followed by that; a gold mining you can discover a vein of gold, a lot
conclusion of the article. of the articles had good references, creating
veins of good research to be read. A few books
1.2 Definitions about design methodology and tools have also
been assessed. This included primary sources
Virtual Reality that had direct descriptions of research done by
the individual that performed the study, and also
Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that is used to secondary sources that were written by authors
replicate an environment, either fictive or who didn’t observe the described events directly.
imagined, and simulates a user’s presence and
surroundings so that the user can interact with it. Keywords used during search were mainly 3D-
In simpler terms VR lets you see and interact with modelling, sketching, conceptual design, ideation
things around you that doesn’t exist but looks etc. This was combined with design to get articles
real. (Dvergsdal, 2016) mostly related to design and design methodology
even though articles from other fields have also
Computer Aided Design been taken into consideration. 3D-modelling and
traditional sketching combined gave few relevant
Computer Aided Design (CAD) is defined as the results, so the results from the two are presented
use of computer systems to assist in the creation, and later combined to get a picture of the
modification, analysis or optimization of a design. possibilities of using CAD software to create
(Narayan, Rao, & Sarcar, 2008) useful sketches.

2D and 3D 3. IDEATION

Refers to two and three-dimensional drawings Ideation is often defined as the process where
and environments. the designer generates ideas and solutions
through sketching, brainstorming, prototyping
2. METHODS and many other ideation techniques. During
ideation, the designers aim is to generate a lot of
2.1 Literature Review ideas that can later be cut down to the most
practical or innovative to inspire better design
A literature review was used to gain theoretical solutions and products. (Dam & Siang, 2017)
insights in both CAD and traditional sketching.
The timeframe on articles about traditional “Ideation is where you start your conceptual
sketching is quite wide, as traditional sketching design. This is a hugely creative and fun phase.
methods have remained quite stagnant over the Ideation is where you brainstorm to come up with
past decades. The CAD-world, however, is in ideas to solve design problems. Ideation is
rapid development, and the available literature inseparable from sketching and evaluation aimed
varies in relevancy. Some of the much-cited at exploration of design ideas.” (Hartson &
literature is quite outdated as it concerns Pardha S, 2012)
outdated software that is no longer used
commercially. Design ideation is often associated with
sketching, and the story about how a rough
Most of the literature was found using the Oria sketch on a napkin landed a big client has been
portal provided by the NTNU library. heard by many.
ResearchGate, which is by many seen as a social
network for scientific research, was also used to
find and request articles from authors. As with

Can simple 3D modelling replace paper sketching in early ideation phases? 2

4. SKETCHING
Figure 1 shows what can be categorized as a
4.1 The role of sketching in design thinking sketch, used to create a chair concept
and explore different shapes.
Hartson & Pardha (2012) defines sketching as
rapid creation of free-hand drawings expressing 4.2 Ambiguity
preliminary design ideas, focusing on concepts
rather than details. They also explain that a A low fidelity sketch can offer a range of
sketch is a conversation between the advantages. They can be quick to make, and at
sketcher/designer and the artifact. the same time offer a form of ambiguity.
Designers today often prefer to use sketches in Ambiguity can be beneficial in the early stages
the early phases of conceptual design, because of a design process where it can lead to free
sketching can fulfil their intuitive and natural interpretations from several parties and help to
needs during their activity. Sketching can be very start discussions about the design. (Sjödell ,
low-effort and allows the designer to focus on 2018) Buxton (2007) states that: “If you want to
the creative side of conceptual design. get the most out of a sketch, you need to leave
(Bouchard, Aoussat, & Duchamp, 2006) big enough holes. Ambiguity creates the holes. It
is what enables a sketch to be interpreted in
Even though traditional sketching is intuitive for different ways, even by the person who created
many, it is a skill that needs training. Sketching it.” The last part of the quote is very interesting,
complex organic shapes can be difficult and time- as ambiguity can help the designer in exploring
consuming and failed attempts may discourage further iterations of the design.
and lead to insecurity about the design. Sjödell
(2018) argues that people that fail to master a The famous picture “My wife and my Mother-in-
drawing technique may question their right to Law” shows the power of ambiguity. See Figure 2.
draw at all.

Ferguson likes to divide drawings in to three

categories; prescriptive sketches – sketches used
as direction in making a finished drawing,
thinking sketches – used to guide and focus the
non-verbal thinking and talking sketches – a
communication tool in the development team,
used to get consensus. (Ferguson, 1992)

Figure 1: Concept sketches (Istituto Europeo di Design, 2018)

Figure 2: My Wife and my Mother-In-Law (Wikipedia, 1888)

Can simple 3D modelling replace paper sketching in early ideation phases? 3

5. CAD Gravity Sketch

3D-model creation is a major bottleneck Gravity sketch is a VR-sketching tool that allows
in production pipelines because it the user to sketch 3D models in real-time. By
using a computer, VR headset and controllers,
requires human effort to create diverse
the user can sketch out and edit 3D-models.
and complex shapes. (Olsen, Samavati,
Gravity sketch is made to lower the barrier to
Sousa, & Jorge, 2009) digital 3D design for people that are not trained
in traditional CAD. Gravity sketch are also
5.1 WIMP working on reaching out to other platforms, like
tablets and motion controllers. (Gravity Sketch,
The current high-end CAD software 2018)
incorporate powerful tools for detailed
and accurate construction and With gravity sketch you can draw an object in the
manipulation of geometric models. air in front of you and explore the shape by
Systems like these typically use a turning either your head or the object. This can
be very helpful when designing things like car
WIMP(Window, Icon, Menu, Pointer)
interiors, as you can sit down in a chair and
interface which is based on entering
sketch out the interior around you while getting a
parameters in dialog boxes, adjusting feel of dimensions and aesthetics. Gravity sketch
control points, and floating palettes. also allows you to import models to use as either
(Olsen, Samavati, Sousa, & Jorge, 2009) reference or to edit. Figure 3 gives an idea of
Examples of WIMP software is what can be created relatively fast and easy in
SOLIDWORKS, Maya and Inventor. Gravity Sketch. Complex organic shapes can be
manipulated to create sketches that can be
5.2 SBIM experienced in three dimensions.

Sketch-based interfaces for modelling (SBIM)

is a more natural and accessible interface.
The goal with SBIM is to allow sketches to be
used in the modelling process, from creation
of rough models, to fine detail construction.
SBIM is mostly still in research, as mapping
2D sketches to 3D modelling operations is
very difficult. (Olsen, Samavati, Sousa, &
Jorge, 2009)
Figure 3: Nike Cloud 9 - Sketched in Gravity Sketch (Gravity
5.3 Examples of existing software Sketch, 2018)

Examples of relatively new existing CAD-

SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer
software has been evaluated to establish
an understanding of what types of
SOLIDWORKS Industrial Designer is created to
software is available and the benefits simplify the process of conceptual design by
they can provide. removing the constraints of traditional design
software to give a more intuitive, flexible and
powerful modeling environment. It uses a
combination of 2D drawing and 3D free-form

Can simple 3D modelling replace paper sketching in early ideation phases? 4

tools to create models that can be easily altered tools and procedures are more artistic than in
and iterated. traditional CAD methods, test subjects performed
better. (Alcaide-Marzal, Diego-Más, Asensio-
Figure 4 shows how SOLIDWORKS Industrial Cuesta, & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2012)
Designer can be used; here are 2D sketches used
together with 3D-modelling to create a concept. Another interesting observation by Alcaide-
Marzal et al. (2012) was that the participants
were more inclined to detailing their work in 3D
sketches, and that they wanted to complete parts
of their work that wouldn’t even be visible in the
result. This is interesting, as it shows the effect
3D visualization has on conceptual development.
The possibility of navigating the object in 3D
seemed to compel designers to work on
unnecessary details and it is something that has
also been documented in the work done by Bilda
and Demirkan (2003).

Figure 4: Concept sketch using SOLIDWORKS Industrial Ambiguity is often lost in WIMP-based 3D-
Designer (Javelin Tech, 2018)
modelling, as the inputs need to be specific and
detailed for the computer to calculate the
SketchUp different shapes, especially with more detailed
products.
SketchUp is a free 3D-modelling tool where you
can draw in either 2D or 3D perspective. With more playful modelling tools, much like
SketchUp is created to be intuitive, robust and sculpting clay, 3D-modelling can help a designer
user-friendly. SketchUp is known for its ease of find the perfect shape. Through adjusting and
use, and is used by architects, interior designers, editing and letting forms emerge, the designer
engineers and video game designers. Sketchup can work on getting the best result intuitively and
lets you push and pull surfaces to create 3D the ambiguity that emerges can help in exploring
forms, that later can be stretched, copied and new ideas.
rotated to extend your design.
3D modelling systems that are based on hand-
6. DISCUSSION drawn sketches have a reputation of only being
suitable for “quick and dirty” modelling tasks.
This section seeks to discuss the insight gained (Yang, Sharon, & van de Panne, 2005) However,
through the literature review. the work done by L. Olsen et al. (2009) indicates
that SBIM can have a tremendous diversity of
As also mentioned by Alcaide-Marzal et al. (2012) applications and techniques, showing that it can
Previous work in the field of digital sketching have the potential to be utilized in a wide range
agree that Paper and pencil are still more of modelling tasks. L. Olsen et al. argue that the
powerful than digital tools in producing community should perhaps embrace the
conceptual solutions, in terms of efficiency. The ambiguous nature of sketch-based systems. As
participants in the tests conducted by Alcaide- argued by Nealen et al.: “Though our capability to
Marzal et al. were more efficient using 2D derive a mental model from everyday shapes
sketching. Their work, however, show that by around us is well developed, we fail to properly
using tools that allow digital sculpting, where communicate this to a machine. This is why we

Can simple 3D modelling replace paper sketching in early ideation phases? 5

have to model in a loop, constantly correcting the sketching, and the connection they have with 2D
improper interpretation of our intentions. “ sketching are needed to determine a correct
approach to these new tools. It can seem that the
Another aspect to discuss is the need for feeling of sketching traditionally is difficult to
additional equipment when using different replace.
modelling tools. As opposed traditional sketching
with pen and paper, most of the available
software requires some sort of computer, and
while some software doesn’t require a lot of
processing power, most do, creating a need for
expensive equipment. Virtual reality equipment
has over the last years become commercially
available, and prices have dropped, making this a
more viable solution. Sculpting software like
Geomagic Freeform, use haptic feedback devices
to enhance the design experience. The
availability of this equipment varies, and most
designers won’t be able to bring equipment
where ideation is needed.

With emerging software and solutions, this field

should still be researched, and tests should be
performed on new software. There is no
apparent research done on sketching in VR with
tools like gravity sketch, and it should be
interesting to see what capabilities it has as a
replacement for regular pen and paper. Videos
published of and by people using Gravity Sketch
portray an incredibly intuitive and powerful
sketching tool, however, research should be done
to uncover its true capabilities.

A lot of the studies done in this field have very

low sample sizes, and there is little qualitative
feedback from the subjects. Also, more
comparisons between and testing of different
methods of producing sketches in 3D could be
beneficial in finding the ultimate tool for design
ideation.

7. CONCLUSION

There are a lot of tools for conceptual design that

are already available, however, work show that it
is difficult to use them properly. (Alcaide-Marzal,
Diego-Más, Asensio-Cuesta, & Piqueras-Fiszman,
2012) Researchers seem to agree that more
comprehensive analysis of actions in 3D

Can simple 3D modelling replace paper sketching in early ideation phases? 6

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