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Abstract

A method and apparatus are described by which a geometric model accurately reflecting the intention of the designer can be simply constructed in the generation or modification of a geometric model, without any constraint on operation such as an input order. Using geometric elements (planes, sides, vertexes, etc.) and geometric constraints (size, angle, etc.) between the elements as inputs, bidirectional dependency relation expressions for these geometric elements are created in a dependency relation expression generating mechanism of a geometric reasoning module, and based upon the expressions dependency conditions (dependency order data) are automatically calculated in a dependency order calculating mechanism. Then, attribute values of the geometric elements are determined in a geometric attribute calculating mechanism, and a geometric model is generated in a modeler and outputted to a display device. In order to modify the model, the geometric element to be subjected to a modification process is calculated using memory dependency order data in a conflict detecting and resolving mechanism, and the attribute value of the element is determined. In addition, excessive and conflict geometric constraints are detected, and a conflict resolving action is presented on the display device.

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First Claim