High Quality Visualization of CAD Data
Rolf Herken, Robert Hödicke, Tom-Michael Thamm-Schaar, Jeffery B. Yost, Silviu Borac · 1991
Although currently available CAD systems excel at producing geometry, many users require higher quality visualization of their data than obtainable from the CAD system itself. The visualization problem may be decomposed into (1) accepting input data, upon which operations such as the detection of adjacent surfaces may need to be performed, (2) conversion of free-form surfaces into a form acceptable to the Tenderer, (3) defining the scene, and (4) rendering the image. Issues and solutions to each of these problems are discussed in the context of research and development at mental images, including the adjacency detection and edge merging problems, triangulation of free-form surfaces in parameter space under various constraints in three dimensional space and use of implicit (algebraic) surfaces as an alternative free-form surface visualization technique.