Proceedings of the TMCE 2004, April 12-16, 2004, Lausanne, Switzerland, Edited by Horváth and Xirouchakis  2004 Millpress, Rotterdam, ISBN 1 CASE-BASED EXPLORATION OF THE AUGMENTED PROTOTYPING DIALOGUE TO SUPPORT DESIGN Jouke Verlinden Faculty of Design, Engineering, and Production Delft University of Technology The Netherlands j.c.verlinden@io.tudelft.nl Bram de Smit Imre Horváth Faculty of Design, Engineering, and Production Delft University of Technology The Netherlands {a.desmit, i.horvath}@io.tudelft.nl ABSTRACT The concept of Augmented Prototyping combines Rapid Prototyping techniques (e.g. Stereolithography, CNC milling) with Augmented Reality systems. The aim is to establish a high sense of engagement in the design process, supporting both exploration and presentation. In this paper, two Augmented Prototyping Systems are discussed: kitchen layout and a nightclub interior. These differ in a variety of aspects (most notably scale), yet are representative of typical prototyping scenarios. Our objective is to identify key issues and guidelines of the multimodal design interface for Augmented Prototyping systems. The systems were evaluated by senior design students, resulting in positive potential for exploration and evaluation tasks. A prototyping platform called WARP and four categories of design support are introduced. Future versions of our systems will support better tracking technologies and more elaborate simulation means. KEYWORDS Augmented Prototyping, Augmented Reality, Rapid Prototyping, design process. 1. INTRODUCTION Tangible Prototypes and scale models play an important role in the design of physical artifacts, e.g. in the field of Industrial Design, in which ergonomic, aesthetic, mechanic, and manufacturing aspects all need consideration. In (Stappers and Hennessey, 1998), three common visualization techniques are mentioned for the early stages of design: sketching, modeling, and collage-making. In particular, modeling is said to “probe three-dimensional relations and proportions of certain design solutions”. The act of creating such visualizations is as important as its result; often new solutions emerge during this process. In the literature, a number of models are described, including sight models, cardboard mockups, working prototypes, and so on (Hilton, 1983). The prototypes are considered to act as a tool in the reflective dialogue between designer and artifact (Schon, 1994). Their main function is to gain insight in a design and to communicate important aspects of an artifact. A significant advantage of the employment of prototypes is that these are accessible by all stakeholders in the design process –it forces the designer to concretize his or her more or less abstract thoughts and ideas to a concrete representation. Furthermore, prototypes have an integrative character– combining spatial structure with the aspects mentioned above. The sense of engagement (Laurel, 1989) seems to play an important role in creation and evaluation of prototypes (Smyth, 2000). Horvath et al. (2003) mention as key issue related to any practical technique for shape conceptualization the time to get from ideation to model creation. The average speed in the internal loop of activities comprising ideation, presentation and reasoning is 10 -1 to 10 0 s, and in the external loop involving presentation, reasoning and model building is 10 1 to 10 2 s. Horvath et al. state that techniques that lag behind these values hold back creativity. In recent years, powerful computer aided design engineering tools have been introduced to realize so- called Virtual Prototypes: digital displays of the product in a simulated environment, offering various evaluation and modification means. A vast range of