Researchers Develop 3-D Search Engine 140
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have developed new search engines that can mine catalogs of three-dimensional objects, like airplane parts or architectural features. All the users have to do is sketch what they're thinking of, and the search engines can produce comparable objects."
accuracy.. (Score:4, Insightful)
i dunno about you, (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, this could be used to search from a scanned in image, which would be good for things like finding car parts, which we had a story about a couple of days ago. Old news, slightly different subject.
is it really easier to use? (Score:2, Insightful)
Shit... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:is it really easier to use? (Score:3, Insightful)
It's easier to sketch the part than to remember that the guy who created the drawing called it a "3/8ths Gripley"
Re:pr0n (Score:5, Insightful)
> "industrial objects". Riiighht.
I'll take the sinister uses with the good on this one. This is really exciting for engineers and tinkerers alike, because it means less time reinventing the proverbial wheel.
Let's say I need gizmoX but it's not manufactured anymore. Fuck! No knock-offs, either. The local CNC shop says they can make it for me but they need a model. 3D modeling could take a while unless you have something similar to start with.
So instead of PORING over an industrial parts catalog and missing the one close-enough part you needed but didn't expect to find under "444_T91_fillets" or whatever, you just search for matches using dimensions, materials, etc. Just a few minor tweaks to the mesh, export, send to the shop, and you just saved a lot of time.
That said - the design and manufacturing industries have been writing ad hoc programs for searching for parts and tooling since the proliferation of computers, but it's nice to see that a general-purpose algorithm that could be more or less universally applicable is evolving from the efforts thus far.