Digital Design And Fabrication Based Design Method And Applications

The development of digital technology such as information and communication influences both the content and the process of innovation.Design is no longer an independent part that occurs before production and after technology research or market research.Thus,design is merging into these procedures.Especially with the development of advanced technologies like 3D printing,personal fabrication has been widely concerned.The issue of how to design and evaluate personal fabrication tools need to be studied urgently.In the area of digital design and fabrication,more and more research projects are committed to remolding fabrication tools by digital technology,which makes them faster,easier and more accurate to support the quick realization of personalized and creative process.Based on the integrated development of digital design and fabrication,this dissertation is mainly to discuss the creative design methods for personal fabrication tool.Consequently,the purpose of supporting innovative human-computer cooperative work with the medium of fabrication tools could be realized.Based on the combination of theory research and practice,this dissertation puts forward a design-oriented " Design + Fabrication + X" integrated and creative model(short for D+F+X Model)that applies to the development and improvement for most of personal fabrication tools.In this model,the macroscopic,vague and unpredictable design problems are transformed to specific problems among the three elements of D,F and X.D represents Design that provides the solutions to specific problems;F represents Fabrication that provides engineering technology in the process of production and manufacture;X represents interdisciplinary knowledge that provides material and experience in the process of production and manufacture.Digital tools could be created quickly and efficiently by integrating and refining these three elements to obtain specific implementation scheme.In the meantime,this model also shows the evaluation criteria for tools that promote the efficient rethink when users are using tools and improves tools continually to extend application area,all of which could drive the development of whole design process.Based upon the D+F+X Model,this dissertation successfully carries out three researches,including a modularized 3D liquid printing platform(xPrint),a gridding prototyping approach by flexible assembly(xMesh)and a gamification of interaction tool(xPlay),which further verify the feasibility of this model and provide reference value for developing more extensive personal fabrication tools.In general,the contributions are as follows:(1)This dissertation puts forward an ecological,step-by-step D+F+X Creative Model and provides specific and effective design implementation framework with evaluation criteria,which is established in the crossing field between design and fabrication and based upon abundant literature review.(2)Under the model framework,the author carries out practical researches in three different fields and describes the whole design process and users test results in details,which further examine the innovative impact in the process of using this model.(3)The digital technology achievements from three practical cases are enlightening in this dissertation,and provide reference value for researching some related issues like digital design and fabrication in the area of human-computer interaction.