Illuminating clay

TLDR

The paper presents Illuminating Clay, a novel system for real‑time computational analysis of landscape models, outlining its architecture, technical challenges, and the advantages of merging physical models with dynamic simulations. Illuminating Clay lets users modify a clay landscape model while a ceiling‑mounted laser scanner captures geometry changes in real time, feeding depth images into analysis functions whose results are projected back onto the model’s surfaces. The system’s analysis results are projected and registered onto the workspace, demonstrating a scenario that builds on prior similar approaches and highlighting the benefits of integrating tangible models with computational simulations.

Abstract

This paper describes a novel system for the real-time computational analysis of landscape models. Users of the system - called Illuminating Clay - alter the topography of a clay landscape model while the changing geometry is captured in real-time by a ceiling-mounted laser scanner. A depth image of the model serves as an input to a library of landscape analysis functions. The results of this analysis are projected back into the workspace and registered with the surfaces of the model.We describe a scenario for which this kind of tool has been developed and we review past work that has taken a similar approach. We describe our system architecture and highlight specific technical issues in its implementation.We conclude with a discussion of the benefits of the system in combining the tangible immediacy of physical models with the dynamic capabilities of computational simulations.