Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Johnson awarded grant for work on sketching for digital fabrication
Recent School of Architecture graduate Dr. Gabe Johnson (Computational Design) has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation's Small Business Innovative Research program to develop his PhD work on sketching for digital fabrication. Johnson's start-up company, Blank Slate Systems LLC (co-founded with School of Architecture professor Mark D Gross), will commercialize his "Sketch It, Make It" software, which enables people who have no experience with computer-aided design software to draw and manufacture their designs just by sketching on a tablet with a pen. His software uses no menus, keyboards, or tool palettes, instead recognizing and interpreting drawing marks such as "right angle" and "equal length". In addition to making design and fabrication easier for novices, Johnson sees opportunities to improve professional CAD software as well as educational applications of the technology.(URL link: http://sketchitmakeit.com )