Intelligent geometry modeling based on the generative geometry as history

Abstract

History-based modeling is known as a revolutionary breakthrough, in the era of information technology, by which engineering designing process has been largely boosted and facilitated. It is an endeavor that is capable of preserving the design intent in the part creation processes, in other words, modeling with intelligence. In the past decade, together with the prosperity of commercial CAD applications, a variety of technologies appeared for this ambition including feature-based modeling, macro parametric approach, generative algorithms (grasshopper), and etc., they are the pioneers in the history-preserving solution. Apparently, they have the same origin that is the philosophy of computer science. Therefore, all solutions benefited from the development of computer/software engineering (e.g. graphic data structure, programming architecture, and 3D manipulation algorithms); however, on the other hand, they fell into its stereotype. Conventional solutions confused geometry with other subjects, and regard button-triggering sequence as the history of shape creation. Obviously, an array of user inputs gathered from either keyboard or mouse merely represents the workflow of particular system. The workflow has been purposefully devised in accordance to certain implementation conveniences, and has no connection with geometric evolution per se. In this research, we start from the literature reviews of history-based modeling technologies, to reveal the necessity of preserving creation information in designing processes; then we will discuss, in chronological order, prevailing solutions as well as their merits and demerits; finally, we provide an innovative approach, which will be based on the generative geometry, to describe the evolutionary details of a geometry, furthermore, to outline an implementation framework for the computer aided realization.