Research of Virtual Model Making System for Computer Aided Industrial Design
Computer aided industrial design (CAID) brings qualitative changes for traditional industrial design on the sides of design method, process and theory. In this paper a new method is proposed with the aim of making the model capable of holding and manipulating the shape features in order to support the students in the design process. The key concept of this study is virtual model making system (VMMS) which consists of numerous sets of rules. VMMS is a new CAID method, and its technical ideas derive from the model making process of automotive product design. With this new CAID method, designers can do any kinds of styling operations on virtual model in the virtual environment generated by computer, such as the cutting or pasting operation on kinds of material. The system was described briefly and a new teaching method of industrial design course was introduced.