History in Motion: Interactive 3D Animated Visualizations for Understanding and Exploring the Modeling History of 3D CAD Designs

Abstract

We present History in Motion (HiM), an interactive visualization tool that enables CAD designers to interactively explore the design history of 3D CAD models. In contrast to manually exploring the modeling history of a CAD project, HiM finds relevant modeling features for geometry elements selected by the designer. We contribute a novel 3D interactive animation that visualizes how the modeling features interact, and are used on top of the CAD model, to realize the geometry. A control panel allows for a deeper exploration of the modeling features, with shortcuts for making modifications.