Generalized symmetry and its application to 3D shape generation (Q1116638)

A new technique for generating 3D shapes from 2D line-drawings, based on generalized symmetry which is an extended concept of 3D symmetry and the axis of which is a 3D smooth curve. Starting from the definition and constraint of generalized symmetry, an easily and rapidly algorithm generating 3D shapes of an object from its 2D line drawings of which three kinds of information about the object are used: (i) a pair of 2D curves which are the projections of generalized symmetric curves (the boundaries of the shape); (ii) the symmetry relation between the curves and (iii) vector information at all points. This generating algorithm is extended to create generalized cylindrical objects describing 3D shapes. The proposed method can also create 3D shapes from industrial drawings, where the edges of an object are straight and parallel to each other. Some further research directions are also discussed.