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4. RELATION TO WORK DONE ELSEWHERE.

	The work  proposed here has  been strongly influenced  by the
pioneering computer graphics  work of Larry Roberts, Steven Coons and
Ivan Sutherland done  at the  Massachusetts Institute of  Technology,
Lincoln  Laboratory, and  Harvard  University; as  well  as the  more
recent work  of Sutherland,  Evans,  Warnock,  Watkins, Archuleta and
Gouraud at the University  of Utah.  In  fact,  Mr. Baumgart  did his
undergraduate thesis  (at Harvard, 1968)  with Prof.   Sutherland, on
development  of  a  three   dimensional  display  system  which   was
subsequently moved  to Utah. Another  influence on the  proposed work
has been  the research in Artificial  Intelligence,  computer vision,
programming languages and time  sharing done at Stanford  University,
Massachusetts   Institute  of   Technology   and  Stanford   Research
Institute.

	In general,  research  work similar to this proposal  goes on
at  the University of Utah  and and at IBM;  also the development and
application of  three dimensional  computer design  systems has  been
underway for  several years at  companies such as General  Motors and
Lockheed.   However,   recent research  work at Utah  has been mainly
directed  toward the  development  of  special purpose  high  quality
display  hardware,   whereas the  work outlined  in this  proposal is
directed  toward  the  problem  of  3D  representation  and  graphics
language.  Accordingly, the relation of our work  to that done at the
University  of Utah,  is  the relation between  hardare and software,
the two matters are overlapping  but different.  The relation of  our
work to graphics  in industry is symbiotic and is  in fact accurately
described  by  the  hackneyed  comparisons  of  a  university with  a
corporation:  theory  vs.    practice,    knowledge  vs.  production,
generality vs.   practicality; not too surprising  the General Motors
and the Lockheed  systems have produced  mechanical drawings of  cars
and airplanes;  however somewhat  irritating these  systems have  not
produced new  languages or algorithms; with  the exception of Appel's
hidden line  eliminator developed  at IBM,  Yorktown,   the  graphics
software  technology  used  by   industry  began  in  university  and
government research.

	Another area of  related work is 2D mechanical  drawing using
a  computer.  At present,   there are  several commercially available
automatic drafting  systems (Cal Comp,   Gerber,   and  so on)  which
allow a mechanical drawing to be  entered into a computer and edited;
word for  word and line for line.  Such systems are indeed an advance
over manual  drafting, however  the  research work  we are  proposing
would be  a further advance directed to  producing many 2D mechanical
drawings from  the  human  design  effort required  to  make  one  3D
drawing.

	Finally, there  are many  commercially available  engineering
programs   that   generate   mechanical   drawings   for   particular
applications.  For  example,  the  Control Data  Corporation,  has  a
system  that  does  structural  steel  detailing  and  that  produces
graphics  in accord with the drawing  standards of the American Steel
Association.   Such special  purpose drawing  programs require  input
decks specifying  the exact shape,   dimensions and  location of each
steel beam; the input decks are  prepared off line, largely by  hand.
A three  dimensional  design program,   such  as the  one we  propose
creating,   would  allow interactive  design  and specification  of a
steel  structures  and  would  allow  easy  interfacing  (in  effect,
FORMAT  statements)  for  creating  particular data  required  by  an
existing  program. So  the relation of  a 3D  design program  to a 3D
drafting program  is simply  sequential, the one  would generate  the
input of the other.