S-CODE: A Subdivision Based Coding System for CAD Models

S-CODE: A Subdivision Based Coding System for CAD Models

A large scale polygon models are often used to approximately represent 3D CAD models in Digital Engineering environment such as DMU (Digital Mockups) and network based collaborative design. However, they are not suitable for distribution on the network and for interactive rendering. We introduce a new coding system based on subdivision schemes called S-CODE system. In this system, it is possible to highly compress the model with sufficient accuracy and to view the model efficiently in a level of detail (LOD) fashion. The method is based on subdivision surface fitting by which a subdivision surface and curves which approximate a face of a CAD model are generated. We also apply a subdivision method to analytic surfaces such as conical and cylindrical surfaces. A prototype system is developed and used for evaluation with reasonably complicated data. The results show that the method is useful as a CAD data coding system.