Computer-aided sketching as a tool to promote innovation in the new product development process

Sketching is an established part of engineering culture. Sketches assist product designers during the creative stages of design and help them to develop inventions. Paper-and-pencil sketching is highly useful but lacks functionalities, mainly because it is disconnected from the rest of the (computer-aided) design process. However, CAS tools are not yet as usable as paper-and-pencil, although they provide full integration with the subsequent phases of the design processes (CAD, CAE, CAM, etc.) and other interesting functionalities. We desire computer-aided sketching (CAS) tools which furnish users with the sketching environment they require to make full use of their conceptual design and innovation talents, while providing full integration with the subsequent phases of the design processes (CAD, CAE, CAM, etc.).In this paper we discuss the importance of sketching in conceptual design, we review the current situation of engineering sketching, and we then analyze the main characteristics which a successful and fully integrated CAS tool should include. We consider CAS, not as a single problem, but as at least three: thinking, prescriptive and talking sketches require different approaches to functionality. Finally, we present the current state of the art in CAS tools by describing the main features and outstanding problems of our own applications.