Rational generalized offsets of rational surfaces (Q1954997)

Summary: The rational surfaces and their offsets are commonly used in modeling and manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to present relationships between rational surfaces and orientation-preserving similarities of the Euclidean 3-space. A notion of a similarity surface offset is introduced and applied to different constructions of rational generalized offsets of a rational surface. It is shown that every rational surface possesses a rational generalized offset. Rational generalized focal surfaces are also studied.