Teddy: A Sketching Interface for 3D Freeform Design
Author(s): Takeo Igarashi, Satoshi Matsuoka, Hidehiko Tanaka.
Proceedings: SIGGRAPH 99,
1999.
[BibTeX] 
Abstract:
We present a sketching interface for quickly and easily designing
freeform models such as stuffed animals and other rotund objects.
The user draws several 2D freeform strokes interactively on the
screen and the system automatically constructs plausible 3D
polygonal surfaces. Our system supports several modeling
operations, including the operation to construct a 3D polygonal
surface from a 2D silhouette drawn by the user: it inflates the
region surrounded by the silhouette making wide areas fat, and
narrow areas thin. Teddy, our prototype system, is implemented as
a Java™ program, and the mesh construction is done in real-time
on a standard PC. Our informal user study showed that a first-time
user typically masters the operations within 10 minutes, and can
construct interesting 3D models within minutes.