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SBIR Phase II: Reimagining Sketch in the Digital Age

Award Information
Agency: National Science Foundation
Branch: N/A
Contract: 1431013
Agency Tracking Number: 1431013
Amount: $747,229.00
Phase: Phase II
Program: SBIR
Solicitation Topic Code: EI
Solicitation Number: N/A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2014
Award Year: 2014
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2014-10-01
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2016-09-30
Small Business Information
61 Hartford Avenue
Madison, CT 06443-2743
United States
DUNS: 078687612
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: Yes
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 Eric Cheng
 (617) 970-8202
 eric@mentalcanvas.com
Business Contact
 Eric Cheng
Phone: (617) 970-8202
Email: eric@mentalcanvas.com
Research Institution
 Stub
Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project results from the development of a new class of graphical-media-design system that lies between today's 2D digital paint systems and 3D computer-aided design systems. This technology will allow architects, engineers, artists, and school children to create compelling 3D experiences directly from their drawings without extensive training. Furthermore, it will accelerate the creation of interactive 3D content and significantly reduce the time, cost and expertise currently required to create it. By bridging the gap between traditional drawings and 3D modeling, this project will provide the unique ability to reuse and "reproject" drawn strokes, thus enabling the creation of expressive 3D drawings with minimal effort. The technology developed in this project will help lower the barrier and generate new business opportunities in content creation for electronic publishing and for other creative professionals, such as architects, designers, and ad-agency art directors. Finally, this project includes specific outreach activities, through collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, that will provide unique educational services to the local community, while simultaneously introducing this new technology to the world. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will focus on making the creation of this new type of graphical media as intuitive and fluid as paper and pencil. This Phase II project will support system improvements - including user-interface improvements - to simplify 3D navigation for the consumers of this media. This will be needed for using this media in digital children's picture books, which have already been identified as early adopters of this technology as well as an important market. Another technical objective will be to develop a hybrid vector-raster representation, which will provide a wider range of artistic expression, while improving rendering performance of large scenes. A third objective is to develop stroke deformation algorithms to support direct manipulation of objects and characters to provide sketch-driven animation capabilities.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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