An Interaction Mechanism for 3D Object-Oriented Feature-Based Models in Interactive Design and Simulation

Abstract

Abstract In engineering applications such as interactive design and simulation, some of the main object manipulations include feature interaction. Today's CAD systems provide object-oriented structures which can explicitly represent functional and geometrical interactions among features. However, conventional interaction algorithms for manipulating these structures cannot cope with non-geometrical information such as feature functionality. Interaction among features plays an essential role in defining functionality. In this paper, a new method is described which focuses on implementation of an interaction mechanism for design and simulation. Two interaction categories are handled: (1) neighboring interaction, which is primarily geometrical (blending and trimming) and (2) functional interaction (machining). Since most interactions are performed in a sub-domain rather than in the entire domain, the advantage of the locality property is considered in both cases.