Abstract: Sketch-based modeling holds the promise of making 3D modeling accessible to a significantly wider audience than current modeling tools. We present a modeling system that is capable of constructing 3D models of particular object classes from 2D sketches. The core of the system is a sketch recognition algorithm that seeks to match the points and curves of a set of given 2D templates to the sketch. The matching process employs an optimization metric that is based on curve feature vectors, and the search space of possible correspondences is restricted by encoding knowledge about relative part locations into the 2D template. Once a best-fit template is found, a 3D object is constructed using a series of measurements that are extracted from the labelled 2D sketch. We apply our sketch-recognition and modeling algorithms to sketches of cups and mugs, airplanes, and fish. The system allows non-experts to use drawings to quickly create 3D models of specific object classes.