Collaborative virtual assembly of spatial dispersed and heterogeneous 3D CAD models

In a typical Concurrent Engineering scenario, users can discuss currently their 3D CAD models in Collaborative CAD environments to a certain extent, but the valuable functionality of Virtual Assembly of dispersed 3D CAD parts steming from heterogeneous systems is not well addressed yet. Users should be able to examine their models in relation to others and verify that they match properly as a powerful decision-making tool independent of any specific CAD system. We present a novel user-driven approach, based on highly intuitive sequential steps, to assembly parts of 3D CAD models using a 2D input device which is completely integrated in an environment supporting geographically dispersed and heterogeneous CAD models. Users with different skills (even non-CAD users) are enabled to assemble 3D CAD models in this scenario. Our approach overcomes the inherent difficulty of assembling 3D CAD models from different systems by using basic attributes of the model instead specific assembly schemas.