Interactive Image-Based Exploded View Diagrams - Semiautomatic authoring tools and interactive viewing system

Oct 26, 2026

We present a system for creating interactive exploded view diagrams using 2D images as input. This image-based approach supports arbitrary rendering styles, removes the need to build 3D models, and leverages existing static diagrams of complex objects. Semi-automatic authoring tools generate layered diagrams where users define how parts expand, collapse, and occlude. A viewing system enables dynamic filtering via expanding/collapsing and part search.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

1 Introduction

Exploded view diagrams and their drawbacks

Image-based 2.5D representation and motivation

2 Related work

Interactive Image-Based Exploded View Diagrams Wilmot Li University of Washington Maneesh Agrawala Microsoft Research David Salesin Microsoft Research University of Washington Figure 1: A static 2D exploded view diagram of a master cylinder (left). We construct an interactive version of the diagram usingour system. Thesethree frames show theuser interactively expanding a portion ofthe objectto examine it inmore detail (right). Abstract We present a system for creating interactive exploded view diagrams using 2D images as input. This imagebased approach enables us to directly support arbitrary rendering styles, eliminates the need for building 3D models, and allows us to leverage the abundance of existing static diagrams of complex objects. We have developed a set of semi-automatic authoring tools for quickly creating layered diagrams that allow the user to specify how the parts of an object expand, collapse, and occlude one another. We also present a viewing system that lets users dynamically 􀀂lter the information presented in the diagram by directly expanding and collapsing the exploded view and searching for individual parts. Our results demonstrate that a simple 2.5D diagram representation is powerful enough to enable a useful set of interactions and that, with the right authoring tools, effective interactive diagrams in this format can be created from existing static illustrations with a small amount of effort. Key words: Interactive diagrams, Image-based rendering, Exploded views 1 Introduction Diagrams are essential for communicating the structure of complex 3D objects that are composed of many subparts, such as mechanical assemblies, architectural environments and biological organisms [5, 8, 15, 19, 25, 26] . To elucidate the composite structure of such objects, illustrators commonly use diagrammatic techniques such as exploded views and cutaways that reduce or eliminate occlusion and expose internal parts. In this work, we focus on exploded view diagrams, which simultaneously convey the global structure of the depicted object, the details of individual components, and the local relationships among them. However, because exploded views are usually designed as static illustrations for print publications, they often suffer from two important drawbacks: 􀀏 Ambiguous spatial relationships. A static diagram can only show a 􀀂xed set of spatial relationships between parts. For complex objects, it may not be clear from a static exploded view how all the parts 􀀂t together, interact with, and constrain one another. 􀀏 Visual clutter. Static diagrams are usually designed to include all the information the viewer might need about the object. As a result, they are often visually cluttered, making it dif􀀂cult to extract speci􀀂c information about a particular part or subset of parts without carefully perusing the entire illustration. In contrast, exploded view diagrams viewed through a computer can alleviate both of these problems by allowing viewers to interactively manipulate the parts and thereby dynamically 􀀂lter the information presented in the diagram. For example, a viewer might interactively expand and collapse only the wheel assembly of a car diagram to better understand how the parts of that assembly interact with one another. On the other hand, a static, general-purpose car diagram would have to show all of the parts in an exploded state, making it dif􀀂cult to focus on the wheel assembly. In general, we believe that inter- active diagrams can be far more clear, informative, and compelling than their static counterparts. In this paper, we present a novel framework for creating and viewing interactive exploded view diagrams of complex mechanical assemblies. As an example, Figure 1 shows a dynamic illustration that was authored and rendered using our system. Rather than using 3D models as input, our approach is to construct dynamic illustrations from 2D images, resulting in a layered 2.5D diagram

FAQs

How does the system generate interactive exploded view diagrams?

It creates layered 2.5D diagrams from 2D images, enabling interactive expansion, collapse, and occlusion of object parts.

What are the main advantages of the image-based approach over 3D modeling?

It supports arbitrary rendering styles, avoids building 3D models, and reuses the abundance of existing static exploded views from educational and repair materials.

What interactions does the viewing interface provide to users?

Users can expand and collapse the exploded view to filter information and search for individual parts to understand spatial relationships.

Oct 26, 2026

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