EverybodyLovesSketch: 3D Sketching for a Broader Audience

Comments:
Justin Chi

Summary:
This paper primarily focused on the usage and user testing of a new program called EverybodyLovesSketch. Based off a new and popluar program, ILoveSketch which is aimed primarily at professionals, EverybodyLovesSketch attempts to retain the professional tools while allowing the program to appeal more to the masses of people with a smaller amount of sketching skill and or talent.

The paper describes some of the features of EverybodyLovesSketch and their usefulness such as, Ticks, Axis Widget, Free Form NURBS Sketch Surface, and more. The more interesting part of this paper, however, goes into detail regarding the usability based off the study of 49 High School students, and their attempts to learn and utilize the program. The students were able to quickly and effectively learn and implement features of the program, which is a great indicator of success.



Discussion:
This paper was interesting in that it described one of the few programs, to my knowledge, that attempts to make 3d modeling accessible to the general public. Most programs I have seen or used, such as Rhino or 3ds Max, are aimed almost exclusively at the professional user and require a large amount of training before anything tremendously useful is created. The implications of having a program like this available to the novice user are huge. For example, many engineers have a great deal of trouble visualizing their ideas to show their colleagues. With a program like this however, the transmission of ideas can be eased and therefore quickened allowing more collaboration and better results overall.

There are actually few faults in the work itself. The paper mentions some minor issues the users had while using the program such as motions that were interpreted as taps when the user was not trying to do a tap but there are specific mentions made as to how to fix these small problems.

The obvious next step is to begin to truly market this product. With its potential and positive reviews, there is no need to hide the program away. The biggest difficulty to overcome is the small amount of learning necessary. Even though it does aim at novice users there will be a slight learning curve with everything. It seems however that a set of instructional videos would be able to get users going quite quickly. I hope to see this product in a usable form soon.