Academic Year: 2022-2023 Regulation IFET 2019

IFET COLLEGE OF ENGINERING

(An Autonomous Institution)
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Year/Sem: : III/VI
Subject Code & : 19UMEPE605 Computer Aided Design

UNIT III MATHEMATICAL REPRESENTATION OF SOLIDS

Geometry and Topology, Comparison of wireframe, surface and solid models, Properties of solid
model, properties of representation schemes, Concept of Half-spaces, Boolean operations.
Schemes: B-rep, CSG, Sweep representation, ASM, Primitive instancing.

3.1 Introduction
Most of the objects we see every day are solids and most of them are geometric objects with interior.
Solids can be very simple like a cube or very complex like a piston engine. Solids must have to be
represented by their geometry and other characteristics and properties in order to model them using
computers. Solid modeling is the most powerful of the 3-D modeling technique. It provides the user
with complete information about the model. Defining an object with a solid model is the easiest of
the available three modelling techniques (curves, surfaces and solids). Solid models can be quickly
created without having to define individual locations as with wire-frames, unlike wire-frame and
surface models, which contain only geometric data. Solid models contain both geometric and
topological information of the object. Some of the potential advantages of solid modeling are :
(i) Mass properties such as area, volume, weight, centre of gravity and moment of inertia
can be determined quickly.
(ii) It allows the design engineer to develop and evaluate alternative concepts for parts and
assemblies while the design is still a theoretical model. Solid models are non-ambiguous.
(iii) Cross sections can be cut through the three-dimensional models with colour used to
identify and highlight different materials and various other features.
(iv) It helps in interference checking of moving parts and the action of moving parts in three-
dimensions in complex assemblies.
(v) It is useful for preparing the technical illustrations used in manuals and other
documentation because solid modeling can produce very impressive visual displays of
objects, using perspective, color shading and highlighting to create images of
photographic quality.

3.2 Geometry and Topology

Geometry:
The graphical information of dimension, length, angle, area and transformations
Topology:
The invisible information about the connectivity, neighborhood, associatively etc.
Geometry Vs Topology
Geometry: Metrics and dimensions of the solid object. Location of the object in a chosen coordinate
system

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Topology: Combinatorial information like connectivity, associativity and neighborhood information.

Invisible relationship information. Figure 3.1 shows the diagram with same geometry and different
topology

Fig 3.1 Same geometry and different Topology

3.3 Geometric Modeling

Geometric Modeling is a fundamental CAD technique. The capability of various CAD tools in
geometric modeling is usually used as a crucial factor in tool selection usually used as a crucial
factor in tool selection. Wireframe models consist entirely of points, lines, and curves. Since
wireframe models do not have since wireframe models do not have “body knowledge”, topological
data are not needed in construction. Surface models store topological information of their
corresponding objects corresponding objects. Both surface models and solid models support shading.
Surface models is still ambiguous and thus cannot support a full range of engineering activities such
as stress analysis full range of engineering activities such as stress analysis. Solid models have
complete, valid and unambiguous spatial addressability. In general a wireframe model can be
extracted from a surface or a solid model.

3.4 Wire frame model

Line modelling or, as it is often called, wireframe modelling is the simplest form of geometrical
representation of an object. Two-dimensional draughting is in fact a form of line modelling, the
major difference being that point information is stored as three coordinate values and the definition
of circles and arcs may specify a plane of orientation. As with 2D draughting, a component is stored
in the computer as a series of geometric entities which simply represent the boundaries, edges or
vertices of the component model.

The wire-frame model is perhaps the oldest way of representing solids. According to this model, any
solid is represented by its edges and vertices. A wire-frame model consists of two tables, the vertex
table and the edge table. Each entry of the vertex table records a vertex and its coordinate values,
while each entry of the edge table has two components giving the two incident vertices of that edge.
A wire-frame model does not have face information. For example, a cube given in Figure 3.2 is
defined by eight vertices and 12 edges. One needs the following Tables 3.1(a) and (b) for complete
information on the cube

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Table 3.1 (a) Vertex coordinates (b) Edge information

Fig 3.2 Wire frame model of a unit cube

Wire-frame models use the simplest data structures and they are ambiguous. Figure 3.3 is a well-
known example that consists of 16 vertices and 32 edges. We know it represents a solid and each of
the quadrilaterals (some of them are squares) defines a face of the solid.

Fig 3.3 Wire-frame Model of a Typical Solid

The inner cube represents a hole; but, we cannot tell the direction of the opening of the cube. As
shown in Figure 3.4, there are three possibilities for this opening. While the other two can be
obtained by rotating the remaining one. Thus, the wire-frame models are ambiguous

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Fig 3.4 Possible Solid Configurations for WFM

Because wire-frame models are ambiguous, their uses are limited. However, wire-frame models are
popular, because they are efficient (i.e. only vertices and edges are displayed and processed) when
they work. For example, wire-frame models can be used for preview purpose. Rendering a complex
model or an animation sequence could be very time consuming if all objects are to be rendered. If
wire-frame models (usually including its face information) are available, one can easily obtain a
general feeling of the final result without waiting for minutes or even hours before spotting a design
flaw.
Note that the edges in a wire-frame model do not always have to be line segments. They can be
curved segments as well and in the case of curved segments the edge table will be more complicated
since in addition to the two endpoints a description of the joining the curve segment (e.g., equation)
is also required. With the advent of hardware and software technologies, the drawbacks of WFM
technique have been overcome. The solid modelers are powerful representations and they should
process the following issues:
Domain
While no representation can describe all possible solids, a representation should be able to represent
a useful set of geometric objects.
Unambiguity
When you see a representation of a solid, you will know what is being represented without any
doubt. An unambiguous representation is usually referred to as a complete one.
Uniqueness
That is, there is only one way to represent a particular solid. If a representation is unique, then it is
easy to determine if two solids are identical since one can just compare their representations
Accuracy
A representation is said accurate if no approximation is required.
Validness
This means a representation should not create any invalid or impossible solids. More precisely, a
representation will not represent an object that does not correspond to a solid.
Closure
Solids will be transformed and used with other operations such as union and intersection. “Closure”
means that transforming a valid solid always yields a valid solid.
Compactness and Efficiency
A good representation should be compact enough for saving space and allow for efficient algorithms
to determine desired physical characteristics.

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These issues may be contradictory with each other. For efficiency purpose, a curvilinear solid may
be approximated by a polyhedron. There are many efficient and robust algorithms for handling
polyhedra; however, accuracy may not be maintained in the process of approximation. For example,
given two curvilinear solids that are tangent to each other, this tangency may disappear after
converting to a polyhedron. Problems occur even for the polyhedra world. Many graphics APIs such
as PHIGS PLUS and OpenGL have built-in data structures for representing polyhedra; but, these
representations could generate invalid solids. There are representations that can always represent
valid solids; but, these representations are in general more complex than those available in graphics
APIs.

3.5 Surface Modeling

Surface models define the surface features, as well as the edges, of objects. Different types of spline
curves are used to create surface patches with different modeling characteristics. For example, the
advantage of Bezier surface patches is that they are easy-to-sculpt natural surfaces. (Figure 3.5) The
control points are an intuitive tool with which the user can work. In contrast, B-spline patches allow
local control; moving one control point does not affect the whole surface

Fig 3.5 Bezier and B-spline surfaces

A surface model is a set of faces a set of faces. It consists of wireframe entities that form the basis to
create surface entities the basis to create surface entities. In general, a wireframe model can be
extracted from a surface model surface model by deleting or blanking all surface entities deleting or
blanking all surface entities. Shape design and representation of complex objects such as car, ship,
and airplane bodies as well as castings used to be separated, shape model are now incorporated into
solid models. Example of surface models are shown in Figure 3.6.

Fig 3.6 Analytical surfaces

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Advantages:
 Less ambiguous
 Provide hidden line and surface algorithms to add realism to the displayed geometry
 Support shading
 Support volume and mass calculation, finite element modeling, NC path generation, cross
sectioning, and interference detection
Disadvantages
 Require more training and mathematical background of the users
 Require more CPU time and memory
 Still ambiguous; no topological information

3.6 Properties of solid model

Rigidity:
Shape of the solid is invariant w.r.t location/orientation
Homogeneous 3-dimensionality:
The solid boundaries must be in contact with the interior. No isolated and dangling edges are
permitted.
Finiteness and finite describability:
Size is finite and a finite amount of information can describe the solid model.
Closure under rigid motion and regularized Boolean operations:
Movement and Boolean operations should produce other valid solids.
Boundary determinism:
The boundary must contain the solid and hence determine the solid distinctly.
R-sets:
The regularized point sets which represent the resulting solids from Boolean operations are called r-
sets (regularized sets) can be imagined as curved polyhedra with well-behaved boundaries.

3.7 Boolean operations

3.7.1 Regularized Boolean operations
The regularized Boolean set operator are defined as
A (operator)* B = Closure (interior (A (operator) B))
Where, operators are either Union (U) or Intersection or Difference (-). For intersection operator
(say), we write
A B = Closure (interior (A B))
The regularized Boolean set operator produces only regular set when applied onto an ordinary set.
When regularized Boolean intersection is applied on the cubes, then Figs. a & e yield same results as
their ordinary Boolean intersection, but is empty in Fig 3.7. b, c & d.

The ordinary Boolean intersection of two objects P and Q, shown in Fig 3.7,contains the intersection
of the interior and boundary points of each object with the interior and boundary of the other. They
result into a dangling face CD, shown as a line CD, in the cross-section. It includes a shared
boundary (AB) in the resulting boundary if both objects lie on the same side of it, and excludes the

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shared boundary (CD) if the objects lie on the opposite sides. However, boundary interior
intersection (BC) is always included to maintain the closure. The regularized Boolean set operators
are used as a user interface to develop the complex objects from simple ones, in most of the three-
dimensional object representation schemes. They also explicitly used in the Constructive Solid
Geometry (CSG) scheme of solid modeling.

Fig 3.7 Boolean set operations

The representation of objects as solid models has been the subject of much research over the last
twenty years or so, and continues to be a major theme for study, as the objectives have by no means
been achieved. It may be seen, however, that it is a natural extension from the use of essentially „one
dimensional entities (curves) or „two-dimensional‟ entities (surfaces), to try to model shape using
three dimensional solids. Such programs are known as solid modellers or volume modellers and can
hold complete unambiguous representations of the geometry of a wide range of solid objects. The
completeness of the information contained in a solid model allows the automatic production of
realistic images of a shape and automation of the process of interference checking. Finally, new
applications programs may be written which exploit the completeness of the solid model to decrease
or eliminate the necessity for user intervention in design, analysis (such as finite element analysis) or
manufacturing tasks (such as the generation of instructions for numerically-controlled machining).
Solid modelling takes the designer into areas of still greater realism than that of surface or line
modelling. As well as the object‟s surfaces being mathematically represented the solid mass between
the surfaces is also defined. There are two types of solid modelling methods used in modern CAD
systems: boundary representation (B-Rep) and construction solids geometry (CSG). With the B-Rep
method a shape or profile is defined and then either a solid of revolution is produced about a given
axis or the shape is extruded in a given direction. Construction solids geometry modellers provide a
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range of solid primitives such as spheres, cylinders, cuboids, wedges, etc., which can be defined at
any size, position and orientation (Figure 3.8).

Fig 3.8 3D primitives

Many solid modelling systems such as I-DEAS and CATIA are not in fact a pure CSG modeller but
has CSG functions for the creation of and operations on solid primitives. There are also geometry
construction facilities for creating profiles and generating models by extrusion and revolution of
those profiles. The solids thus generated can then be treated as primitives so that other generated
solids or primitives can be used to modify them by Boolean operations. The process of union
completely adds and fuses two construction solids. The process of difference completely subtracts
one solid from another as shown in Figure 3.9. Where a cylinder representing a drilled hole is
subtracted from another solid. The process of intersection is the most complicated out of three. The
required solid is formed only by two construction solids combining together or intersecting, and any
extraneous volumes are completely ignored. The entire object required is built methodically from
different construction solids in many progressive stages

Fig 3.9 3-D modelling

3.8 Properties of representation schemes

It is possible to produce a complete solid model, with all the information, e.g. full surfaces and
hidden detail being displayed. Alternatively an abbreviated form can be displayed, which shows
cylinders as multifaceted surfaces and no hidden lines removed. In practice, most commercial solid
modellers employ a combination of the approaches, the most appropriate being chosen for a
particular task. The quality of image produced by a full solid modeller, with highlights and shadows,

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is often so good that it can be confused with photographs taken of the real object. All solid
modelling systems provide facilities for creating, modifying and inspecting models of three
dimensional solid objects, but there are a large number of different possible methods for representing
such models in a computer. However, representation schemes may be divided into six general
classes as follows: ·
 Pure primitive instancing
 Generalised sweeps
 Half-space concept
 Cellular decomposition
 Constructive solid geometry (CSG)
 Boundary representation (B-rep).

3.9 Concept of Half-spaces

The creation of solid model using unbounded half-spaces of CSG solid modeling scheme is less
popular in computer graphics. Half-spaces are lower-level primitives and form a basic representation
scheme for creating the bounded solids. The regularized Boolean set operations combine the half-
spaces for creating various models. Half-spaces are usually unbounded geometric entities; each
divides the representation space into two infinite portions, one side filled with material and other
side is kept empty. The most popular unbounded half-spaces are planar, cylindrical, spherical,
conical and toroidal. Each half-space is defined in terms of the half-space (local) coordinate system
and a point in half-space is defined as a regular point set of ordered triplets (x, y, z). Fig 3.10 shows
few unbounded half-spaces, which are mathematically represented as

Fig 3.10 Unbounded half-spaces

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Fig. 3.11 shows the half-space representation of solid S. The half-space representation requires a
total of 9 half spaces. Out of nine half-spaces, there are eight planar half-spaces represented from H1
to H8, and one cylindrical half space represented as H9. Using the local coordinate system, some
half- spaces have to be positioned first by applying the geometrical transformations, e.g., rotate
planar half space by an angle -90º (ccw) about the x-axis and translate it up to obtain. In a similar
way, the other planar half-spaces can be positioned using the proper set of geometric
transformations. Only planar half-space H7 does not require any positioning before applying the
Boolean operations. The cylindrical half-space H9 first requires translation along the x-axis, and
then rotation by 90o about the x-axis. Fig. a shows that desired solid S can be obtained by the union
of half-spaces H1 to H8 followed by the subtraction of cylindrical half-space H9.

Fig 3.11 Half-space representation of solid S

Advantages and Disadvantages of Half Spaces

Advantages:
 The main advantage is its conciseness of representation compared to other modeling
schemes.
 It is the lowest level representation available for modeling a solid Object
Disadvantages:
 The representation can lead to unbounded solid models as it depend on user manipulation of
half spaces
 The modeling scheme is cumbersome for ordinary users / designers

3.10 B-rep
The boundary representation method represents a solid as a collection of boundary surfaces. The
database records both of the surface geometry and the topological relations among these topological
relations among these surfaces. Boundary representation does not guarantee that a group of boundary
surfaces (often polygons) form a closed solid. The data are also not in the ideal form for model
calculations. This representation is used mainly for graphical displays. A b-rep solid is represented
as a volume contained in a set of faces together with topological information which defines the
relationships between the faces. Unlike wireframe representation, boundary representation (b-rep) is
based on the concept that a solid body is bounded by a set of faces as shown in Fig. 3.12. Thus, it is
an extension of the wireframe by adding the face information. The main advantage of a b-rep model

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is that a solid is bounded by its surface and has its interior and exterior clearly defined. Because b-
rep includes such topological information, a solid is represented as a closed space in 3D space. The
boundary of a solid separates points inside from points outside of the solid. The geometry of the
object can be described by its boundaries, namely, vertices, edges and surfaces. Each face is
bounded by edges and each edge is bounded by vertices. Faces can be formed by either straight-line
objects or curve segments. Only the boundary surfaces of the model are stored and the volumetric
properties are calculated by the Gauss divergence theorem, which relates volume integral to surface
integrals. This scheme can model a variety of solids depending on the primitive surfaces (planar,
curved, or sculptured). Some of the definitions of the objects that will be found in b-rep models are
the following:
Vertex: It is a unique point (an ordered triplet) in space.
Edge: A finite, non-intersecting space curve bounded by two vertices that are not necessarily
distinct.
Loop: It is an ordered alternating sequence of vertices and edges. A loop defines a non-self-
intersecting closed space curve, which may be a boundary of a face.
Face: It is defined as a finite connected, non-self-intersecting, region of a closed oriented surface
bounded by one or more loops. Normally, a face is a bounded region of a planar, quadratic, steroidal,
or sculptured surface. The bounded region of the surface that forms the face is represented by a
closed curve that lies on the surface.
Genus: It is the topological name for the number of handles or through holes in an object. Body: It is
an entity that has a set of faces that bound a single connected closed volume. A minimum body is a
point.

Fig 3.12 Boundary information

The total information present in a b-rep model is classified into topological and geometric data. The
topological part of the data provides the relationships among its objects such as vertices, edges and
faces similar to that used in a wireframe model, along with the orientation of edges and faces.
Geometric information is usually equations of the edges and faces.

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Fig 3.13 Representation of a solid by its faces

There are two types of solid models in this scheme: (a) polyhedral solids, and (b) curved solids.
Polyhedral objects consist of only planar surfaces such as a cube or a tetrahedron. A curved solid on
the other hand has curved faces and edges. A few types of polyhedral objects are shown in Fig. 3.14.
Polyhedral objects can be classified into four types depending upon the type of features associated
with them. Simple polyhedra do not have holes and each face is bounded by a single set of
connected edges, i.e., bounded by one loop of edges

Fig. 3.14 Types of polyhedral objects

Polyhedra with faces of inner loops are similar to the first with the exception that a face may be
bounded by more than one loop of edges. Polyhedral with not through holes may have a face
coincident with the object boundary or an interior hole. Handles (through holes) in the object are the
through passageways. Developing valid solid models using faces, edges and vertices is rigorous and
not easy. Euler has proved that polyhedra that are homomorphic to a sphere are topologically valid if
they satisfy the following equations:
F – E + V – L = 2 (B – G)
where F, E, V, L, B and G are the number of faces, edges, vertices, face‟s inner loop, bodies, and
genus (handles or through holes) respectively. If the solid is a simple one as shown in fig. holds
good.
F–E+V=2

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To store the data in a b-rep model, relational database structure is the most convenient. The list of
vertices, edges, loops, faces, and bodies are stored in tables. This is a picture of a single edge, ending
in two vertices, which then each have two other edges leading off from them. The edge, for example,
could be the edge of a cube. The edge has pointers to the vertices at its ends, and to the next edges. A
pointer is essentially the address in the computer‟s memory where something is stored. The vertices
have pointers to their (x, y, z) coordinates, and so on.

Fig 3.15 Boundary representation of solid models

Since the edge is formed by two faces, it is part of two loops F1 and F2. This winged-edge data
structure is very efficient for manipulation (addition or deletion of edges, faces or vertices) utilising
Euler‟s law. Euler Operators Euler operators are used for building boundary models for complex
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objects. There are many operators such as MEV, KEV, MBFV, etc. In these operators, M refers to
„Make‟ and K refers to „Kill‟, while other letters have the same meaning as in the Euler equation.
Fig. shows the sequence of steps involved for creating the boundary model of solid S through the
steps from (a) to (l) Boundary representation of solid models are shown in Figure 3.15.

3.11 Euler Operations

A connected structure of vertices, edges and faces that always satisfies Euler‟s formula is known as
Euler object. The process that adds and deletes these boundary components is called an Euler
operation. Validity checking for simple solids as shown in figure 3.16 and 3.17. Applicability of
Euler formula to solid objects:
• At least three edges must meet at each vertex.
• Each edge must share two and only two faces
• All faces must be simply connected (homomorphic to disk) with no holes and bounded by
single
ring of edges.
• The solid must be simply connected with no through holes

Fig 3.16 Validity checking for simple solids

Fig 3.17 Validity checking for polyhedral with inner loops

3.11.1 Merits and Demerits of Euler Operations

If the operator acts on a valid topology and the state transition it generates is valid, then the resulting
topology is a valid solid. Therefore, Euler‟s law is never verified explicitly by the modeling system.
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Merits:
• They ensure creating valid topology
• They provide full generality and reasonable simplicity
• They achieve a higher semantic level than that of manipulating
faces, edges and vertices directly
Demerits:
• They do not provide any geometrical information to define a solid polyhedron
• They do not impose any restriction on surface orientation, face planarity, or surface self-
intersection
3.11.2 Advantages of Boundary Representation
1. Complex engineering objects can be modelled very easily compared with CSG. Some
examples are aircraft fuselage and automobile body styling.
2. Since the topology and geometry are treated separately, incorporating new geometries in the
existing model is easy.
3. It is particularly suitable for modelling parts having internal symmetry.
4. Computational effort and time required to display the model are less compared with CSG.
5. Combining wireframe and surface models are possible.
6. This format gives efficient picture generation and easy access to other geometric information.
7. The b-rep model is more widely used because in CSG, the number of basic primitives
available is limited.
8. It is easy to create objects by „sweeping‟, i.e., a complex two-dimensional profile may be
translated or rotated about an axis to give a shape in three dimensions.
9. Problems with Boundary Representation
10. The data to be stored is more and hence it requires more memory. It is also a verbose scheme.
In addition, faceted b-rep is not suitable for many applications such as tool-path generation.
11. There is no guarantee that the object created is valid (i.e., complete, unambiguous, and
uniquely defined). Additional checks for validity, such as Euler‟s rule, will be needed to
ensure this.
12. It is usually less robust than the half-space method.
13. Each object is defined independently, without reference to other objects in the system. It is
not easy to define „generic‟ or „parametric‟ models for families of parts.
14. Conversion of CSG to b-rep is possible, but conversion from b-rep to CSG is not possible.

3.11.3 Disadvantages:
1. It requires large storage space as it stores the explicit definitions of the model boundaries
2. It is more verbose than CSG
3. Faceted B-rep is not suitable for manufacturing applications

3.12 Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG or C-Rep)

A CSG model is based on the topological notion that a physical project object can be divided into a
set of primitives that can be combined in a certain order following a set of rules to form the object.
The basic solid primitives are: blocks, cones, spheres, cylinders, tubes, and hexahedras, as shown in
Figure 3.18
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Fig 3.18 Solid Modeling Entities

Constructive Solid-Geometry Methods (CSG) Constructive models represent a solid as a

combination of primitive solids. This modeling technique combine the volumes occupied by
overlapping 3D shapes using set boolean operations. This creates a new volume by applying the
union, intersection, or difference operation to two volumes A and B. See Figure.3.19 which is self-
explanatory.

Fig 3.19 Boolean Operations on Two Primitives A + B

The method of Constructive Solid Geometry arose from the observation that many industrial
components derive from combinations of various simple geometric shapes such as spheres, cones,
cylinders and rectangular solids. In fact the whole design process often started with a simple block
which might have simple shapes cut out of it, perhaps other shapes added on etc. in producing the
final design. For example consider the simple solid shown in Figure 3.20.

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Fig 3.20 CSG Model of an Object

Fig 3.21 Construction tree

This simple component could be produced by gluing two rectangular blocks together and then
drilling the hole. Or in CSG terms the union of two blocks would be taken and then the difference of
the resultant solid and a cylinder would be taken. In carrying out these operations the basic primitive
objects, the blocks and the cylinder, would have to be scaled to the correct size, possibly oriented
and then placed in the correct relative positions to each other before carrying out the logical
operations. The Boolean Set Operators used are:

• Union: A + B is the set of points that are in A or B.

• Intersection: A . B is the set of points that belong to A and B.
• Difference: A – B is the set of points that belong to A but not to B.

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Note that the above definitions are not rigorous and have to be refined to define the Regularised
Boolean Set Operations to avoid impossible solids being generated. CSG does not provide a unique
representation. The set operations (⊂, ∪, ∩, and –) covered in the previous section are also known as
the set-theoretic operations. When we use these operations in geometric modeling to build complex
objects from primitive ones, the complement operation is usually dropped because it might create
unacceptable geometry. Furthermore, if we use the other operations (∪, ∩, –) without regularization in
solid modeling, they may cause user inconvenience. In addition, objects resulting from these
operations may lack geometric closure, may be difficult to validate, or may be inadequate for
application.
Advantage
 Easy, concise and requires minimum storage (CSG tree)
Disadvantages
 Not good at complex shape
 Slow to display

3.13 Difference between B-rep and CSG

Boundary Representation (BREP) Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG)

BREP describes only the oriented surface A solid is represented as a Boolean
of a solid as a data structure composed ofexpression of primitive solid objects of
vertices, edges, and faces. a simpler structure.
A BREP object is easily rendered on a A CSG object is always valid because
graphic display system. its surface is closed and orientable and
encloses a volume, provided the
primitives are authentic in this
We review the possible surface types, the For CSG, the basic operations include
winged-edge representation schema, and classifying points, curves, surfaces
the Euler operators for B-rep. concerning a solid, detecting
redundancies in the representation, and
approximating CSG objects
systematically.

3.14 Sweep representation

Two and a half dimensional objects:
The following two categories of solids are considered of this kind.
• Solid of uniform thickness – Extruded solid
• Axisymmetric solids – Solids of revolution
The first kind is called Linear Sweep and the second kind is called rotational sweep. Sweeping is
used to create objects for B-rep and CSG representations. Thus it becomes an input option in many
types of representations. There is no modeler entirely based on sweeping for the following reasons:
• Limited domain
• No formal theory
• Validation and regularization schemes are unknown

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Sweeping an object along the known trajectory in space defines a solid, called as sweep. This
method is used for creating the thee-dimensional objects possessing translational, rotational or other
symmetries. A set of two-dimensional primitives such as circles, rectangles, ellipses are used for the
sweep representations. Other two-dimensional options may be closed spline curve or slices of a solid
object. Sweeping is used, in general, as a means of entering the object descriptions into B-rep or
CSG based solid modelers. Sweeping is based on moving a point, surface, curve, polygon, etc. along
a specified path. Depending upon the types of motion to be performed by the object boundary, in
general, there are three types of sweep representations of solids:
I. Translational sweep
II. Rotational sweep
III. Hybrid sweep

3.14.1 Translational Sweep

The simplest type of area/surface movement through a given distance along the specified path,
normal to the plane of area, results into a solid known as translational sweep or extrusion. This is a
natural way to create a volume by extruding the metal or plastic through a die having the desired
cross-section. The sweeping may be linear or non-linear depending upon the path of movement of
area/surface as shown in Fig. 3.22. In linear sweep, the path is linear described by a linear parametric
equation, while in non-linear sweep, the path is a curve described by the higher order quadratic,
cubic, etc. equations.

Fig 3.22 Translational sweep

3.14.2 Rotational Sweep

Rotational sweeps are defined by rotating an area/surface about the rotational axis, as shown in Fig.
3.23. If we use rotation axis perpendicular to the plane of spline cross-section, two dimensional
shapes are generated. However, if we rotate the cross-section about the axis containing the cross-
section, three- dimensional shapes such as torus can be generated. A torus of circular cross-section
can be generated by sweeping a circle about the rotational axis through 360º. We can move the area
along a circular path through any angular distance from 0º to 360º. For non-circular path, we can
specify the curve function describing the path and distance travelled along the path. It is also
possible to vary the shape or size of the cross-section along the sweep path, e.g., crane hook.

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Fig 3.23 Rotational sweep

3.14.3 Hybrid Sweep

The objects with hybrid sweeps possess motions along the two coordinate axes; followed by gluing
at the contact surface. Fig. 3.24 shows the hybrid sweeps, wherein, one rectangular surface moves
along the x-axis and other rectangular surface, having a circular hole, along the y-axis. Thus, the two
boundaries are swept in different directions and the two volumes are glued together to form the
object. Sweeps are the natural and intuitive way to produce the objects. Many solid modellers allow
user to create objects as sweeps but store the objects in some other representation scheme of solid
modelling.

Fig 3.24 Hybrid Sweep

The simplest form of sweep is that generated by sweeping a two-dimensional area along with an axis
perpendicular to its plane. This form of sweep is most useful in representing objects that are
extruded along with constant cross section or for objects that are machined to a given profile.
Another common form of sweep is to rotate a two-dimensional profile about an axis. In making a
planar faceted model the profile shall be defined at a finite number of points and shall be rotated in
finite steps to generate points on the surface therefore defining a polygon mesh. It is illustrated
below where the highlighted profile illustrated in Figure 3.25 (a) has been rotated around the vertical
axis to generate the mesh of points on the model of a wineglass illustrated in Figure 3.25 (b).

Figure 3.25 (a) 2D Profile before Sweep; and (b) Solid Formed by Sweep Rotation
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Sweeping is most convenient for solids with translational or rotational symmetry Sweeping
symmetry. Sweeping also has the capability to guarantee a closed object. The spatial sweeping and
other cross sectional sweeping illustrated in Figure.3.26

Fig 3.26 Spatial sweeping; & varying cross-section

3.15 Analytical Solid Modeling (ASM)

ASM is closely related to finite element modeling. It is developed to aid designers in the arduous
task of modeling complex geometry commonly found in design applications. It can be viewed as
more of a representation scheme for design than for manufacturing purposes due to its formulation,
which does not involve orientable surfaces as does b-rep or c-rep. ASM has now a wide range of
applications such as mass property calculations, composite material modeling, and computer
animation.

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The technique for creating spline or patch curve segments or surface patches are valid in ASM. As
surface representation a general solid is described by x, y and z coordinates. ASM is an extension of
the well-established tensor product method, introduced to represent surfaces for surface modeling, to
3D parametric space with the parameters u, v, and w. the tensor product formulation in 3D
parametric space is a mapping of a cubic parametric domain described by u, v, and w values into a
solid described by x, y and z in the Cartesian (modeling) space. The resulting solid is called a
parametric solid or a hyperpatch. The variable point of the solid is given by
p (u, v, w) = [x (u, v, w), y (u, v, w), z (u, v, z)]
umin < u < umax
vmin < v < umax

wmin < w < wmax

A general solid is represented by

p (u, v, w) =
0 < u < 1, 0 < v < 1, 0 < w < 1
The creation of an ASM model of an object simply involves dividing the object into the proper
assembly of non-overlapping hyperpatches. Each hyperpatch can be constructed from curves and/or
surface patches. Other construction methods of ASM models can include ruled volumes and
sweeping. A ruled volume can be created between two given surface patches by linearly
interpolating between them. ASM is appearing in design and analysis applications that require
information inside as well as on the boundary of a given object. This is desirable, for example, in
modeling and studying composite materials and fracture mechanics problems. However, ASM is not
adequate for manufacturing applications such as tool path generation, because face surfaces of
hyperpatches are not explicitly stored and are not orientable, i.e. normal to face surfaces cannot
indicate the interior or exterior of the object.

3.16 Primitive instancing

In primitive instancing, the modeling system defines a set of primitive 3D solid shapes that are
relevant to the application area. Primitive instances are similar to parameterized solid objects. A
parameterized primitive may be thought of as defining a family of parts whose members vary in a
few parameters, an important CAD concept known as Group Technology. Primitive instancing is
often used for relatively „complex objects‟, such as gears and bolts, that are tedious to define in
terms of Boolean combinations of simpler objects, yet are readily characterized by a few high-level
parameters. It is easier to sew and create unambiguous and unique solids. The main disadvantage is
clearly the limited domain of objects that can be handled. In primitive instancing, no provisions are
made for combining objects to form a new higher-level object, using the regularized Boolean set
operations. Thus, the only way to create a new kind of object is to write the code that defines it.
Similarly, the routines that draw the objects or determine their mass properties must be written

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individually for each primitive. The main disadvantage is clearly the limited domain of objects that
can be handled. The method is restricted to the primitives predefined in the system and they are quite
limited.

In this scheme of solid modeling, each element shape may be considered as a solid model with
associated mass properties. The modeling system defines a set of three-dimensional solid shapes that
are relevant to a particular area/discipline of engineering such as mechanical engineering, civil
engineering, etc. For examples, along with the common 3D primitives such as block, cylinder,
sphere, cone, wedge, etc., the primitives related to the modeling of mechanical engineering
components such as gears, shafts, pulleys, etc. are also included. These primitives are parameterized
in terms of the properties, e.g., one primitive object may be a regular pyramid with a user defined
number of faces meeting at the apex. Primitive instancing is preferred for the complex objects such
as gears, pulleys, bolts, etc. which are very difficult to define with Boolean combinations of simple
objects.

The complex objects are characterized by few high-level parameters. For example, a spur gear is
characterized by its pitch circle diameter, hub diameter, face width, number of teeth and hole
diameter, as shown in Fig.3.27. Similarly, the bolts are characterized by the number of sides of the
bolt head n, bolt height H, length of threaded portion L, pitch of thread p and bolt diameter d, as
shown in Fig. 3.28. In this method, no provisions are made for combining the primitive objects to
form a new high-level object, using the regularized Boolean set operations. The complex high-level
object can be created only by writing the code that defines it. Similarly, the computer program must
be written to draw the objects as well as for determining the mass properties of individual object

Fig 3.27 Spur gear defined by primitive instancing method of Solid Modeling

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Fig 3.28 Bolt defined by primitive instancing method of Solid Modeling

3.17 Comparison of Various Solid Modeling Schemes

Modeling schemes are compared in Table on the basis of accuracy, uniqueness, validity,
compactness and domain.

BREP CSG Sweep ASM Cell Primitives

decomposition instancing
Accuracy Curved Non- High Good in Usually used Similar to
surface polyhedral accuracy accuracy in low- sweep
support is primitives accuracy
needed to are needed applications
reach high to reach
accuracy high
accuracy
Domain Theoritically, Similar to Limited With Almost any Similar to
it can BREP to certain computational object sweep
support any domain effort, it is
object fairly good
Uniqueness No No Need No Simple grid Similar to
careful and octree sweep
definition generally
generate
unique object
Validity Hard to Easy to Easy to Easy to check Easy to check Easy to
check check check check
Compactness Good at Good for Good for Good for Good for Good for
and internal user internal interface interface interface
efficiency process interface use

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3.18 Comparison between wireframe, surface and solid modeling:

S.No Parameters Wireframe model Surface model Solid model

1. Computer memory, space required Less Moderate Large
2. Entities used Point, line, circle, Plane, revolved, Cone, cube, wedge,
ellipse, arc, B-spline, ruled, tabulated
Bezier, hermite.
3. Input data required More Moderate Less
4. Automatic orthographic, isometric Impossible Impossible Possible
view generation
5. NC code generation Not possible Possible Possible
6. Rendering, shading Not possible Possible Possible
7. Cross sectioning Possible manually Not possible Possible done
automatically
8. CAD/CAM/CAE modules Drafting Drafting, design Drafting, design,
manufacturing,
assembly
9. Calculation of physical properties Not possible Possible Possible
10. Elimination of hidden lines Not possible Not possible Possible

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