Sketch-Up in the Virtual World

This paper proposes a bidirectional modeling approach. It aims to assist online collaboration on 2D to 3D modeling. Two "worlds" of modeling are proposed in our pipeline. A free-form 3D model can be generated in the "creation world" (CW). Then models are transferred to another "world", the "viewing world" (VW), and integrated with existing virtual scene. Models in the "viewing world" can also be transferred back to the "creation world" for further refinement. All operations performed in the "creation world" are based on our sketch-up technique, which is a new method to accomplish 2D to 3D reconstruction. In this method, 3D models are created through a traditional and intuitive way, "painting", with a mouse/stylus. The approach proposed in this paper can be applied to help online e-edutainment and e-learning applications. It is expected to help multi-user modeling and geometric learning online. With our method, collaborative modeling on the Web can be carried out in an easy and intuitive manner.