Constructive geometric modeling : choosing a representation

The aim of this session was to give the audience a basic grounding in geometric modeling, so as to be able to introduce constructive implicit surfaces and demonstrate their advantages over more conventional representations. In particular, the benefits of constructive modeling based on successive additions of parts or details were demonstrated. I also highlighted the contribution of high-level edge or volume representations (parametric or implicit surfaces) compared with discrete representations (meshes, voxels). The end of the lecture highlighted several recent contributions to integral implicit surfaces (invariance to scale changes, prevention of undesirable mixing) which make them a model of choice for constructive modeling.