A Novel Method to create 3D Models from Conventional 2D Drawings for Efficient Training in Shipbuilding

Recent recovery in the shipbuilding industry may bring huge influx of new workers with lower efficiency, which could be a serious obstacle to efficient shipbuilding. Lower efficiency of novice workers seems to be mainly due to passive performance of work originated from poor understanding of drawings essential to work, but it is not easy to find a solution to this problem in the production site. Various types of drawings are used for shipbuilding. Such drawings include important information such as the title of the drawing, and the directions of perspective in accordance with standards applied in the shipbuilding, but beginners who do not know how to read drawings may have difficulties locating an area and the scope of work specified by a drawing. In the ship, components and various parts which are densely populated due to limited space are often represented by multiple lines. These lines are very difficult to acknowledge let alone to distinguish the shape and location of the components specified by the drawings, which makes workers avoid seeing drawings. In this paper, as one way to tackle this problem, a novel method is suggested to create easy-to-understand 3D models from the conventional 2D drawings to support effective training for new employees. The suggested 3D models include useful information such as standards for block numbering, directional indicators, and coordinates, which is essential for workers to decipher drawings for efficient shipbuilding.