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Do Engineers Use Convergence to a Vanishing Point when Sketching?

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Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing ((AINSC,volume 79))

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Abstract

We wish to determine whether design engineers commonly use central projections (convergence of parallel lines to a vanishing point) when sketching new shapes, rather than draw physically parallel lines as parallel. This paper describes a pilot experiment carried out to determine the presence and importance of central projections. Results suggest that designers rarely use vanishing points when sketching engineering shapes. Hence, convergence can safely be ignored when designing and implementing basic artificial intelligence systems which detect perceptual cues in engineering design sketches. Since we wish to develop an automated method for discriminating between central and parallel pictorial projections, the paper also presents a numerical analysis of our results which could be used to calibrate such a method.

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Plumed, R., Company, P., Piquer, A., Varley, P.A.C. (2010). Do Engineers Use Convergence to a Vanishing Point when Sketching?. In: de Leon F. de Carvalho, A.P., Rodríguez-González, S., De Paz Santana, J.F., Rodríguez, J.M.C. (eds) Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence. Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing, vol 79. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14883-5_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14883-5_32

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14882-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14883-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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