Nishino - Object modelling with gestures

Nishino, H., Utsumiya, K., and Korida, K. 1998. 3D object modeling using spatial and pictographic gestures. In Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (Taipei, Taiwan, November 02 - 05, 1998). VRST '98. ACM, New York, NY, 51-58. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/293701.293708

Summary

Put on special glasses to get a 3d stereoscopic image from a curved screen, and put glove/motion tracker on your hands to track them. Have some virtual clay modelled by a superellipsoid (it's mathematically easy to work with, relatively). Create a blob, deform it, mash it, pinch it, stretch it, put it in a pan, bake it up as fast as you can. Combine a bunch of blobs to make things like teapots, vases, and bigger blobs.

Discussion

Good for professional sculptors who might want to fashion something without wasting real clay. But, since clay is easy to recycle (just add water), who cares. If you're not a sculptor, are you good enough with your hands to make your blobs of junk look like things in real life? How accurate are the hands, so a noisy spike doesn't accidentally mash your teapot into oblivion?

Pretty neat idea, just not sure of its usefulness.