Push-pull direct modeling of solid CAD models

Abstract: Direct modeling is a very recent CAD modeling paradigm featuring direct, intuitive push-pull interactions with the geometry of the model to much increase model editing flexibility. The major issue for push-pull direct modeling is the possible inconsistency between the altered geometry of the model and its unchanged topology. The challenge of resolving the geometry-topology inconsistency lies in ensuring that the resulting model remains as a valid solid model and that the model shape follows a continuous change pattern. Although push-pull direct modeling has been implemented in several CAD software packages, robustness towards generating valid modeling results and continuous shape changes still remains an open issue. This paper proposes a systematic method to handle the resolution of any possible inconsistent situation. The method formulates the continuous shape change requirement as successive Boolean operations on the model volume, thereby guaranteeing valid solid models and continuous shape changes. Further, this formulation allows for an easy implementation of push-pull direct modeling using existing CAD research and engineering results. In order to show the effectiveness of the proposed method, a software prototype is developed and the modeling results are compared with those of five leading CAD software packages.