3D- SEEK

Searching for this thingamajig or that doohickey? A new search engine could help you find the item in an online catalog not by its name or product number, but by its shape.

The 3D-Seek search engine, being developed by Purdue University and software start-up Imaginestics in West Lafayette, Ind., uses sophisticated pattern recognition programs to match sketches or finished illustrations with the right three-dimensional image file of an industrial part. The neat thing is that you can search 3D with 3D. You can search using a sketch or an image or using a 3-D part.

Although the software is initially geared toward the manufacturing industry, it could find its way to the ordinary consumer, helping shoppers at hardware or auto parts stores locate the correct component based on a freehand sketch.

Although the 3D-Seek catalog contains just 6,000 parts on a Web site that the company has invited the public to test out, the software is capable of sifting through millions of components.