Multistroke Grouping of Online Freehand Axonometric Sketches for Mechanical Models

Multistroke drawing occurs frequently in conceptual design sketches; however, it is almost unsupported by the current sketch-based user interfaces. We proposed a sketch recognition system based on the multistroke primitive grouping method. Based on grouping the strokes that lie within the mutual boundaries between adjacent regions, we create line drawings from online freehand axonometric sketches of mechanical models. First, closed regions and their boundary bands of the sketch were extracted. Then, the strokes that cross the boundary bands of two or more closed regions are segmented, and the strokes that lie within the intersection of two adjacent boundary bands are grouped. Finally, grouped strokes are simplified into a new single stroke and then fitted as a geometric primitive; thus, the input sketches are recognized to the line drawings. We developed a prototype of the sketch recognition system to evaluate the proposed method. The results showed that the input sketches are simplified into the accurate line drawings efficiently. The proposed method can be applied to both multistroke overtracing and nonovertracing sketches.