Computer Graphics and Product Modeling for CAD/CAM

Product design and manufacturing activities worldwide are facing several challenges due to shorter product life cycles, frequent design revisions and the need for shortest time to market. To meet these challenges, Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology has been developed during the past two decades to automate and integrate various activities of the product cycle. Computer Graphics plays a key role in CAD/CAM to create Virtual world for digital prototyping. Graphics enables a designer to interactively synthesize various product shapes, visualize them in different settings and analyze their functional performance. Product Modeling forms the heart of any CAD/CAM activity as it creates a central repository of product data to suit the down-line application tasks like FEM analysis, CNC programming, rapid prototyping etc. Product model creation, validation, representation and interpretation are thus, the key issues which directly govern the efficacy of CAD/CAM. This book is primarily written with a view to present the fundamentals of Computer Graphics and Product Modeling for CAD/CAM applications. In essence, it will present the mathematical basis for 3 D object modeling, transformation and visualization, geometric design of curves and surfaces, Solid and surface modeling, Feature based and Constraint based modeling and Product Data Exchange standards. The book includes solved problems, practice problems and review questions. It is expected to serve as a foundational text book for senior undergraduate and postgraduate students of Mechanical Engineering.