A relational model for interactive manipulation of form features based on algebraic geometry

Abstract

One of the main problems in feature-b~sed modeling is to represent and to handle the feature semantics as well as the geometric and topological information. In this paper an algebraic representation structure which maps feature shape semantics into a geometric model and provides facilities for interactive feature manipulation is presented. In this structure, called the Feature Entity Relation Graph (FERG), the parameters defining a form feature are expressed as algebraically formulated relationships between feature entities. In the same way it is possible to represent dimensions and geometric constraints to express the functional shape requirements of the part and to preserve the feature shape semantics.