Beautiful Science, sponsored by Kawasaki Electronics Translation of segment about the Sketch system, originally broadcast May 31, '97 (The segment consists of a man and a woman sitting at a desk talking about the Sketch system, interspersed with bits of the SIGGRAPH '96 Sketch video and additional video) She By seeing images in the Internet, using drawing programs and doing calculations, computers have become part of our lives. However, there is still something difficult about computers, the idea of it being a 'machine' has not yet gone away. Many times I think it would be really good if we could create a computer to jot down notes, do little scribbles like we do on a piece of paper. Today, we will hear what Mr. Omura believes will be the CG software of the future in the design field. He Like you, there are many people who still think that using computers is hard. She Yes. He It's not so easy to use them yet, the way we want them to be. She Yes. So, What is this CG software that seems to be the center of attention in the field of design? He It's this new program called Sketch. You know how you can sketch a drawing in 2D in paper? Well, in the same way, you draw a couple of lines and suddenly it becomes 3D. She Wow. First, however, let's see how drawing is being done now. (Computer Shot) She First, we do a drawing on a paper, the traditional way. (Drawing Program Shot) She I already have to ask, what is being done? He The designer is putting some volume to the drawing. She What is happening? He The reason you don't understand is because the designer goes to the menu bar and as he (just assume it's he) clicks on different menus, the mode of the cursor changes. She Oh. Now I could tell it was color. He Yes. She Where is the tool bar? How do you find out where is everything? He Right, it's hard because it's all up at the top. She So it seems they are making the parts of the table. He And the legs get hidden by the top. She This is a weird-shaped table. He He is starting to draw curved lines. She He does every little part at a time? He Yes, he puts a point in each subpart and the lines is made connecting those points. Oh, he is copying it now. She Now he puts some volume. He So you do the sketch by hand first, then you do it on the computer. After, though, you still need to draw the side and the top views. She Yes, all the possible views, and there are many of them. Looking at the process of drawing I really didn't understand what they were doing. It seems we need to read books about it and understand the software as well as the hardware. He This is what happened. First, with a pencil the artist drew the table very unprecisely, a sketch. Then, with the computer he drew the table much more precisely, from the point of the view of the sketch. After that, he had to draw yet another sketch to show the sides and top of the table. He would then need to go back to the computer and re-draw the side views so they become precise. She And he still didn't have all the possible views. From this side for example (she points). He So now let's see how it is done with this new software. (Sketch shot) She Wow, it's already done. He It becomes 3D as soon as you sketch, just by drawing three lines. (Table legs get drawn under the table) She You only draw the part that you see. He But the computer fills in the part under the table on the other side. She Wow, that seemed so hard to do in the previous program! He This is just like sketch on paper, but your drawing automatically becomes 3D! (rotation of objects) She And we can see from many different angles. Wow. It's amazing and really fun seeing things from different angles. He Yes. (back to the commentators) She Are there any rules for drawing, like the window? He Yes, as you noticed, there are no menus. She You are right. (shows a table full of drawings) He Here are some examples of the rules. A cube, as you know, can be described as a width, height, and depth. So that is how you draw it. There are others. Basically you draw things just like when you draw with you hands. (shows the curved cylinder) Just make a ball, in free-hand, extend the line and draw a line upwards. This becomes this 3D image. She With the software available right now you'd have to draw the line carefully, you would have to draw another one parallel to it and then another perpendicular. He Yes, none of that here. Let's watch some more. She This is exactly like free-hand drawing! You don't need to do anything precisely, the computer straightens things out for you. He If you notice, the lines are not drawn straight, nor are they perfect, it's just like by hand. She I see. (pieces of wall dislocate) He But don't worry, the computer makes them fit right. See, it dislocates. She Wow, it slides! He It's fun. She I want it. He Me too. She When do you think we will be able to use it? He Well, it will take a while. What's amazing is how haphazardly you draw it and it still becomes 3D automatically. See a straight wall, from a simple imperfect sketch of lines. (drawing on wall) She What is it? A window! (drawing curtain) He Just click on it and it's gone. Put it in the right place with a curtain, and the rail re-draws itself. She Wow. He To make a table, you start with a cube. But you can't fit your knees, so you open a hole. (drawing of table) She Just like the window, it's gone. He Now a drawer, which is like the knee whole, but this time we won't get it out. We will just slide the piece. She WOW! (more table drawing) He Take the inside out. She This is very intuitive, now that I think about it. I think I understand how to do it. He Usually, when you watch computer experts doing something on the computer, you have no idea of what's happening, but with this, it's easy. A true good tool has to be to be learned by watching. She By looking you can figure out. Like "if I draw this line I can get this.. He And no menu's, it's very natural. The movements are continuous because there are no changing of modes. She Of course. (piano being drawn) He He is making the notes, but did not calculate how many would fit. Let's see how he does it. She Oh it won't fit He But you can super-impose! (piano top fall on its legs) She The top just fell. That's amazing. He Yes. She To match the feet! This is so fun. (back to commentators) He This is what I believe will be the popular tool for design. She I want to use it soon. He This is the newest version that came out last year. The computer on which this runs is still expensive, but pretty soon it will be more accessible. The software will still improve and the price of computers is decreasing so fast that in three years I predict you will be able to run this software on a PC. You can be a concept designer like that! She I don't think we are too far from the day in which kindergarten drawing can be done in this fashion. He Three and four year-old's.. --------------------- Translation by Saori Taichi (st@cs.brown.edu)