Geometric Modeling for Rapid Prototyping and Tool Fabrication

This paper describes the application of a non-manifold geometric modeling environment, NOODLES, to a Rapid Tool Fabrication System. This system integrates stereolithography and thermal spray deposition into a CAD/CAM environment which includes design evaluation tools, robotic spraying, and computer-aided process planning. The level of integration and the number of different models in this system requires geometric representations that can be abstracted at several levels and that can be manipulated over several dimensions. The models in our framework for design, analysis, and fabrication share a single comlnon unifying geometric representation implemented in NOODLES.