CAD data preparation in a virtual Prototyping environment

The ability to rapidly prototype a proposed design is becoming a key contributor towards fulfilling the business requirements embodied in a short time-to-market, in cost-effective and high quality manufacturing. Reorganizing the design and development process along the lines implied by the concept, Concurrent Engineering, means that advanced information technologies must be taken advantage of. The integration of existing technologies in CAD modelling, design, analysis, simulation, networked cooperation, and virtual reality (VR) leads to a distributed desktop-environment which provides the basis to take the greatest advantage of the Virtual Prototyping technique. Some of the basic difficulties in the virtual prototyping process are the contrary requirements of the design and presentation applications concerning the representation of the product data. Usually, 3D CAD models are extremely detailed, containing all categrories of chamfers, bore holes, small pockets or protrusions. Contrary to this, VR data structures focus on visualization and real-time interaction aspects. They have to be less detailed, dure to the restrictions of the visualization hardware. Therefore this paper describes strategies for the preparation of CAD data and the reduction of the model's complexity.