Ludi: A Concurrent Physical and Digital Modeling Environment

This paper explores the potential of a concurrent physical and digital modeling environment. We describe a prototype for a novel design modeling interface where users can take advantage of the affordances of both physical and digital modeling environments, and work back and forth between the two. Using Processing, along with the Kinect depth sensor, the system uses depth data read from a physical modeling space to produce an enhanced digital representation in real time. Users can design by moving and stacking wooden blocks in a physical space, which is represented (and enhanced) digitally as a “voxel space,” which can in turn be edited digitally. The result is a proof-of-concept concurrent physical and digital modeling environment combining design affordances specific to each media: the physical space offers tactile and embodied forms of design inter-action, and the digital space offers parametric editing capabilities, along with the capacity to view the modeling space from different perspectives, and perform basic analyses on designs. Following a brief review of experimental computational and tangible interaction design interfaces, the paper discusses the system’s implementation, its limitations, and future steps.