Surface modeling
From PLMpedia
Geometry modeling of second-order manifolds (locally homeomorphic to 2D Euclidean space. There are three main methods to construct surfaces in 3D space. Fragments of canonical surfaces (spheres, cylinders, cones) are defined by Cartesian coordinates of these surfaces and boundaries of parametric patch. Free-form surfaces are created on the basis of flat and 3D profiles – by their pulling or rotating (the profile can change during the rotation – such a surface is called an adaptive swept surface), or internal approximation of a close-end border profile (fill).
Finally, surfaces can be constructed on the basis of already built surfaces– offset, or variable offset, as well as blended surfaces. Advance surface modeling tools also contain a considerable number of other tools (constructing spline surface using control points, constructing subdivision surfaces). Taking advantage of the variational approach, users can put any constraints between surfaces, curves and points.
