My thesis “tCAD: A 3D Modeling Application on a Depth Enhanced Tabletop Computer” was presented on the 9 of May of 2013, to a jury composed of Professor Valentina Nisi, Professor Yoram Chisik and Professor Pedro Campos. It was classified with an 19 out of 20.

Abstract

Tabletop computers featuring multi-­‐touch input and object tracking are a common platform for research on Tangible User Interfaces (also know as Tangible Interaction). However, such systems are confined to sensing activity on the tabletop surface, disregarding the rich and relatively unexplored interaction canvas above the tabletop. This dissertation contributes with tCAD, a 3D modeling tool combining fiducial marker tracking, finger tracking and depth sensing in a single system. This dissertation presents the technical details of how these features were integrated, attesting to its viability through the design, development and early evaluation of the tCAD application. A key aspect of this work is a description of the interaction techniques enabled by merging tracked objects with direct user input on and above a table surface.

Keywords: Depth‐sensing, Tangible User Interfaces, 3D object manipulation.