Semantics of families of objects
PhD student - Rick van der Meiden |
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Parametric modelling, and in particular feature modelling, is now the most important way to model the shape of 3D objects. It characterises a class of similar objects by a number of parameters; an instance of such a class can be created by specifying values for its parameters. Advantages of parametric modelling are that the shape of an object can easily be fine-tuned, and that objects that differ only in details can easily be modelled. Parametric modelling is profitably used in, for example, computer-aided design and manufacturing.
A class of objects is often called a family of objects, and an instance a member of the family. A fundamental problem in parametric modelling, which hinders general acceptance, is that there is not yet a good way to define the semantics of a family of objects, and therefore objects can wrongly be considered or excluded as a member of a family. A sound definition should exactly determine which objects belong to a family.
The goal of this project is to develop methods to precisely define the semantics of a family of objects. These methods will be based on semantic feature modelling, in which shapes with well-defined semantics and constraints are used to model objects. Methods to determine members of a family will also be developed, in particular a family membership test to check whether given parameter values specify a member of a family, and techniques to compute the ranges of the parameters that correspond to members of a family.
This project is supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).