My initial interest in geometric modelling was in Solids Modelling and NURBS-based surface models; primarily driven by my earlier professional involvement with Finite Element Analysis. I taught undergraduate courses in CAD/CAM and geometric modelling that focussed on these topics.
Having had a good deal of experience with the creation and modification of freeform curves and surfaces, I became convinced that a new approach was need before mathematically naive users could get the most out of powerful and flexible curve and surface representations. It was my plan that we have glove-based direct manipulation of surface features. ACGC staffers Barry Fowler and Karen Paik as well as ACGC visitor Russ Fish all worked on various parts of the plan. Barry had worked on direct manipulation of curves whilst still at U of Waterloo, Karen had been a member of the Alpha-1 project at U of Utah, Russ was a staffer at the Alpha-1 project.
At this point in time we have parts, but not the whole. We are still a long way from a demonstrable glove-based, feature-based surface editor, even though there are some nice demonstrable pieces. I'd like to continue this work, but I am not sure if I will get the chance.