Author Description

State-of-the-art research and development in geometric and product modeling is reflected in this publication. The papers have been organized into five main topic areas - geometry, shape modeling, feature-based modeling, applications, and data interfaces - though many contributions inevitably cross the artificial boundaries implied by such partitioning. The first group of papers deal with particular aspects of the problem of curve and surface representation under constraints. The second and largest section contains papers addressing the topic of describing the shape of a product. Advances achieved are acknowledged, including the development of work on representing imprecisely defined shapes, which signifies a movement from the detailed product design stage towards the more conceptual design application. The third section continues this theme with consideration of higher levels of design abstraction beyond the traditional shape models. Specific design and manufacturing applications are discussed in the fourth chapter. The final section provides an overview of the problems and solutions related to the transfer and manipulation of geometric and product data between and within CAX systems.