Contents
Introduction
Given a choice, humans have always prefered to describe complex 3-D objects in
terms of feautres or "primitives". So for example a complex shape
such as a human body could be described as a cuboid for the torso, on top
of two cylinders as legs, with two cylinders for the hands, on top of which
a sphere (hollow in some cases :-) is kept, connected through another cylinder
for the neck. Such a description, which comes naturally to humans is hell
of a job for a computer to handle, where one is expected to describe objects
in terms of coordinates. Or is one ???
Solid modelling using primitives is an attempt to get rid of this problem, by defining primitives in which a complex object can be broken into. The user can then use these primitives to define complex shapes and even other primitives. The shapes can then be defined by carrying out boolean operations on these primitives.