This paper presents a novel form design and CAD modelling approach to simultaneously support intuitive physical model development such as 3D sculpting, and CAD surface modelling for effective design communication, evaluation and collaboration. The concept of creation of 3D form profiles by simply projecting a set of 2D drawing on a physical model is utilised for generating 3D constraints and converting a single perspective image of the physical model captured by a web camera to a CAD surface model. This method has been implemented and tested in our prototype design desktop system. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.