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Intelligent capabilities for small CAD systems: problems and
perspectives
Geometric models with parameters were traditionally considered to be a
feature of the so-called "high-end" CAD systems. In particular, this was
due to their demanding requirements for hardware performance. However,
explosive growth of the computing power available in common PC's changed
the situation significantly over the last decade. Now it appears to be
reasonable and expedient to introduce parameterization in the so-called
"lightweight" CAD systems, which endows them with capabilities
previously seen only in high-cost systems.
There is another factor limiting the use of parameterized models in
smaller CAD systems: development of the parameter support engine is
labor-intensive and therefore expensive, which puts it out of reach for
the developers of lightweight CAD packages. A possible solution is seen
in the development of a general-purpose geometric solver with an open
interface, to be used as a standard application library. The paper will
examine a practical attempt to develop such a solution based on the bCAD
system.
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