Identifying Opportunities to Reimagine Parametric Modeling for Makers

Abstract

Makers often build on the work of others by customizing and combining shared designs. These designs, however, need to be specified in a way that allows for easy reuse. However, designing such models is typically performed using high-end CAD software originating from industry. Systems should be reimagined to enable more designers to specify how their designs should behave in different contexts (i.e., the design intent). Enabling designers to easily embed this information in their designs addresses the need in the making community for designs that can easily shared with, and reused by, others. Eventually, having access to these easily customizable, parametric designs will enable richer customization activities, fueling the further growth of the maker movement. We investigate techniques to lower the barrier for designing high-quality parametric designs by identifying existing strategies that are used in state-of-the-art systems. By articulating these techniques, we hope to stimulate research on re-envisioning how makers engage in designing reusable models.