A set operation algorithm for sculptured solids modeled with trimmed patches (Q1122931)

It has long been standard practice in differential geometry to define a surface by a set of charts, maps of the unit square into three-space. If the surface is defined not by charts based on open sets but on nonoverlapping closed sets then the charts are called trimmed patches in computer graphics. The authors develop an algorithm to compute union, intersection and set difference of surfaces based on trimmed patches. The relatively simple combinatorial structure of the procedure shows that general trimmed patches are a useful tool in CAD.