Intuitive Measurement Interface for Simplified Mesh Models for Rapid Conceptual Design

Conceptual design involves generating hundreds to thousands of concepts and combining the best of all the concepts into a single idea to move forward into detailed design. With the current tools available, design teams usually model a small number of concepts and analyze them using traditional Computer-Aided Design (CAD) analysis tools. The creation and validation of concepts using CAD packages is extremely time consuming and unfortunately, not all concepts can be evaluated. Thus, promising concepts can be eliminated based on insufficient time and resources to use the tools available. Additionally, these virtual models and analyses are usually of much higher fidelity than what is needed at such an early stage of design. To address these issues, an desktop and immersive virtual reality (VR) framework, the Advanced Systems Design Suite (ASDS), was created to foster rapid geometry creation and concept assessment using a unique creation approach which does not require precise mating and dimensioning constraints during the geometry creation phase. The ASDS system removes these precision constraints by using 3D manipulation tools to build concepts and providing a custom easy-to-use measurement system when precise measurements are required. In this paper, the ASDS framework along with a unique and intuitive measurement system are presented for large vehicle conceptual design.