Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Researchers Develop 3-D Search Engine

Posted by michael on from the etch-a-sketch dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Researchers have developed new search engines that can mine catalogs of three-dimensional objects, like airplane parts or architectural features. All the users have to do is sketch what they're thinking of, and the search engines can produce comparable objects."

33 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Is this a good thing to be releasing? by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Funny

    How long until we hear about an "architectural piracy" case over the design of small-city houses...

  2. Depends too much on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the user's ability to sketch. I used to teach an amature art class, most people can't even draw a recognizable hand.

    1. Re:Depends too much on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      the user's ability to sketch. I used to teach an amature art class, most people can't even draw a recognizable hand.

      What a coincidence. I used to teach a Spelling for Amateurs class, and most people couldn't even spell the name of the class.

    2. Re:Depends too much on by Black_Logic · · Score: 2

      I thought the same thing. But what about someone who's building/creating something new, especially someone without knowledge of lots of existings part types in database x, each time they do drawing for each little part in their design, run it through the search engine to see if it's something that's already been fabricated. Probably not the intended use though.

      --
      Ansi's and stupid tricks!
  3. Dupe by Zagar · · Score: 3, Informative

    Didn't we have a similar article about 3D searching a week ago?

    --
    YAFIRL (Yet another Free iPods referral link)
  4. Finally... by Unnngh! · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...I can have the computer search for my keys for me.

    Oh, wait

  5. Yay by f0d0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    A 3D haystack!

  6. Maybe something for ./? by __aagctu1952 · · Score: 5, Funny

    If Slashdot started comparing the general shape of submitted articles maybe we would avoid a couple of dupes...

  7. How long before by jeffkjo1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    How long before the porn industry capitalizes on this one?

    The possibilities are endless.

  8. pr0n by JohnGrahamCumming · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And they developed this for searching for "industrial objects". Riiighht.

    Seriously though the pr0n industry is an extreme early adopter of most technologies, I'm sure that the researchers could fund research for the rest o their lives by creating an adult search engine.

    John.

    1. Re:pr0n by theM_xl · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Are you capable of drawing any female pornstar so that she looks different enough from the others that the search engine can find her? More important, would you actually CARE if it came up wrong? :D

    2. Re:pr0n by wwest4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > And they developed this for searching for
      > "industrial objects". Riiighht.

      I'll take the sinister uses with the good on this one. This is really exciting for engineers and tinkerers alike, because it means less time reinventing the proverbial wheel.

      Let's say I need gizmoX but it's not manufactured anymore. Fuck! No knock-offs, either. The local CNC shop says they can make it for me but they need a model. 3D modeling could take a while unless you have something similar to start with.

      So instead of PORING over an industrial parts catalog and missing the one close-enough part you needed but didn't expect to find under "444_T91_fillets" or whatever, you just search for matches using dimensions, materials, etc. Just a few minor tweaks to the mesh, export, send to the shop, and you just saved a lot of time.

      That said - the design and manufacturing industries have been writing ad hoc programs for searching for parts and tooling since the proliferation of computers, but it's nice to see that a general-purpose algorithm that could be more or less universally applicable is evolving from the efforts thus far.

  9. accuracy.. by zeruch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...will be the most critical part. i could easily see people doodling in the dark trying to get an object they desire, but are not sure how to visually detail out.

  10. i dunno about you, by trmj · · Score: 2, Insightful

    but I rarely see stuff come out of MS Paint that resembles what it's supposed to be.

    Of course, this could be used to search from a scanned in image, which would be good for things like finding car parts, which we had a story about a couple of days ago. Old news, slightly different subject.

    --
    Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
  11. Previous /. article by jwbing · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/04/142321 0&tid=

    1. Re:Previous /. article by Nahor · · Score: 2, Funny

      Previous /. comment
      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=104348&cid=888 7035

  12. is it really easier to use? by zome · · Score: 2, Insightful

    it's alot easier to type "fireplace" than draw it.

    1. Re:is it really easier to use? by Carnildo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      it's alot easier to type "fireplace" than draw it.

      It's easier to sketch the part than to remember that the guy who created the drawing called it a "3/8ths Gripley"

      --
      "They redundantly repeated themselves over and over again incessantly without end ad infinitum" -- ibid.
  13. Shit... by AstrumPreliator · · Score: 3, Insightful

    My drawing skills are something to be desired. I'm not exactly sure how they can compensate for poor artists...

  14. Killer App by women · · Score: 2, Funny

    I believe that the killer app for this technology will be for 3d desktops. Unfortunately, the killer app for 3d desktops probably doesn't exist.

    --
    If you're a fan of women, add me to your friends list.
  15. Even 3D developers will be confussed by Wellmont · · Score: 2, Informative

    Personally i've been freelance developing 3D art and models for companies for a few years now, and i've learned a couple of things.
    Turbo squid is better for artists.
    And 3D objects don't get better with age (at least not yet)

    This will be GREAT for the production industry (which has moved off shore) as users will be able to forget their skills of automatic recall when it comes to part recognition and sucumb to the all mighty 3D shape database.

  16. Any neural net people here? by Thinkit4 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been curious if there has been a hyperelegant neural network solution that can do everything from recognize handwriting to faces. Completely different applications would only require retraining. So you wouldn't hear about specific applications like this, but one breakthrough that can simply, elegantly be applied anytime recognition must be performed. Are there any real (not patent or such) related reasons this doesn't exist?

    --
    -I am an elective eunuch.
    1. Re:Any neural net people here? by nacturation · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I've been curious if there has been a hyperelegant neural network solution that can do everything from recognize handwriting to faces. [...] Are there any real (not patent or such) related reasons this doesn't exist?

      Aside from the fact that about a third of the brain (if I remember correctly) is dedicated to visual processing and that the brain has a hundred billion neurons, each neuron firing at up to 1KHz and with thousands of connections to other neurons? :)

      It's an enourmously complex task to be able to do this reliably. Recognizing a straight-on photograph and matching it up with a corresponding mugshot is a whole lot different than seeing the side of a person's half-shadowed face from slightly behind them and recognizing that as the same Alice who held up the convenience store on Tuesday.

      Handwriting recognition is orders of magnitude easier to do, since it's a lot easier to recognize similarities between a sample of writing and previously analyzed samples. In fact, there's a lot of research into this already. Facial recognition is slowly getting there, but people are still stumbling over the same mistakes that were made decades ago -- attempting to formalize facial recognition by defining a set of rules and matching to those rules. Much like spam filtering, this works to a degree until the differences between the one you want and the one you don't no longer fits within the rules.

      Neural net + genetic algorithms/programming to refine the net's connections and behavior is probably a good approach. Finding a means of populating, storing, and computing hundreds of billions of nodes in the network is the real challenge I think. Of course, take everything I've said with a huge grain of salt as this is a subject I'm fascinated by but have little practical experience with.

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  17. Re:again ? by Xeo+024 · · Score: 2, Informative
    i've seen it before on slashdot i guess

    Well it's not exactly the same thing, the article posted before was about Purdue's shape searching engine while this article is about Princeton's 3D model search. Same topic, different search engines.

  18. I'm not too good at sketching, by darkonc · · Score: 3, Funny

    but I can give you her measurements....

    --
    Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
  19. Clippy for the drawing impared by Craptastic+Weasel · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ahhh I can see it now. The marketing types will have a field day with this one. Maybe they could incorporate Clippy into the program, to help out the drawing impared.

    "I see you are trying to draw a monkey wearing what looks like a condom on it's head... May I assist you in finding such an item?"

    "Click'

    "Find books about Monkeys With Condoms on their Heads at Amazon.com"

    "Find the lowest priced Monkey with Condoms on their heads with Price Grabber"

    Bring it.

    1. Re:Clippy for the drawing impared by Jardine · · Score: 2, Funny

      Being a curious little monkey and not having the man with the yellow hat around to stop me, I searched amazon.com for this.

      The first book that comes up: "The Trouble with Islam : A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith". I have no idea what this means, but it has to be significant in some way.

  20. Beta Results by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The researchers have released the most popular sketch submitted by beta testers who were asked to sketch what they're thinking of:

    +---------+
    | |
    | (.Y.) |
    | ) ( |
    | ( Y ) |
    | |
    +---------+

  21. 3D Search Engine Screenshots by CHaN_316 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Larger screenshots of the 3D search engine can be found here and here.

    --
    "There is no spoon." - The Matrix
  22. try it. by invein · · Score: 2, Informative


    3d model search engine

  23. Great! by JohnnyBigodes · · Score: 2, Funny

    Now all they need to do is a similar engine for pr0n. That way I can draw the perfect tits to look for :D

  24. Easier to describe by words by bdigit · · Score: 2, Funny

    Say I want to look for some weird industrial part. I open up google and type "long hard metal round"

    And I come up with plenty of usefu... oh nm

  25. Re:try it. by Dok+Fenderson · · Score: 2, Informative

    I drew what I thought was a fairly respectable stomach (respectable if it had been done by a 10 year old with Down's) and it found a chair, a cabinet, and a "Euro Head". Methinks there was a breakdown in communication somewhere down the line.

    Dok

    --
    "You can't screw the system, but you can give it a good fondling." -- Too lazy to look it up