Research And Development Of Descriptive Geometry And Engineering Graphics Virtual Laboratory

Virtual laboratory technology has characteristics of high efficiency, low cost and easy maintenance, etc. in the experimental teaching except as assistance of scientific research in universities. Descriptive geometry based on virtual reality technology and virtual laboratory of engineering graphics were beneficial complement to traditional teaching of engineering graphics, they reduced maintenance and update costs of teaching models, improved teaching efficiency, facilitated the students'any learning not limited by time and space, helped students understand the complex and abstract concepts in the engineering graphics curriculum and stimulated the students'interest in learning to some extent. Content of this paper mainly covers the following four aspects.Firstly, from constructing virtual laboratory system of engineering graphics, this paper studied the five virtual reality technologies of VRML, Cult3D, EON, Quest3D and Virtools carefully, did in-depth analysis and comparison between the five development platforms of virtual reality technologies in perspective of technical features, development process, scenes establishment, interactive designs, productions release and functions expansion, then determined the development platform of descriptive geometry and engineering graphics virtual laboratory.Secondly, import technology of the Virtools models was studies, the two modeling technique of SolidWorks and 3DS Max was analyzed in connection with models features of engineering graphics virtual laboratory, construction route of virtual laboratory model was verified, import and conversion of mechanical CAD modeling software to virtual reality development platform were realized, problems in the conversion process of models format were analyzed.Thirdly, overall framework of laboratory was designed from the experiment content and the key interaction technology that laboratory needed. In the experiment content, functional modules of engineering graphics virtual laboratory were divided based on teaching objectives of engineering graphics, the involved virtual reality interaction technologies were analyzed in detail from the point of achieving basic virtual experimental functions.Finally, the six engineering graphics virtual experiments that including the known solid, projection theory, solid intersection, combination parts analysis, standard parts presentation and assembly disassembly were developed by taking advantage of Virtools and VSL programming technologies. Interface of virtual laboratory was designed and the system was integrated and released, the development of descriptive geometry and engineering graphics virtual laboratory system were finished.The development of descriptive geometry and engineering graphics virtual laboratory were not only favorable supplement to teaching and practice of engineering graphics, but also provided a reference to other virtual laboratories.