CAD Exploded View Generation via Blocking Data Structures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing techniques for generating exploded views of CAD models are limited in efficiency, clarity, and visual coherency, particularly in representing complex products with numerous components, as they often only consider directly adjacent CAD parts and fail to effectively handle blocking relationships between non-adjacent parts.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a model explosion engine that constructs a blocking data structure and explosion graph to account for blocking relationships among all CAD parts, including those not directly adjacent, by determining explosion directions and escape distances, and selecting primary parent parts to improve visual and logical stacking in exploded views.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If existing techniques are used to generate exploded views, then the generation process is simple, but the clarity and visual coherency of the exploded views deteriorates due to visual obstructions from not considering blocking relationships between non-adjacent parts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the blocking relationship analysis into discrete blocking events between pairs of CAD parts. By identifying and analyzing blocking relationships incrementally for each part pair rather than attempting to analyze all relationships simultaneously, the system achieves comprehensive blocking analysis while maintaining computational manageability. This segmentation allows the system to consider non-adjacent part relationships without overwhelming complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimension of analysis by considering blocking relationships in three-dimensional space between non-adjacent parts, rather than only analyzing adjacent part relationships in two dimensions. This dimensional expansion enables the system to detect and resolve visual obstructions that would be invisible in traditional 2D adjacent-part-only analysis, thereby improving exploded view clarity.
2Manufacturing precision
If blocking relationships among all CAD parts are considered, then the accuracy of explosion directions and escape distances improves, but the computational time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary blocking relationship analysis before generating explosion directions and escape distances. By pre-identifying all blocking relationships between CAD parts, the system establishes a foundation that accelerates the subsequent explosion view generation process. This preliminary action avoids redundant computations during the actual exploded view creation, thereby reducing overall computational time while maintaining high accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and isolates only the relevant blocking relationships that actually affect explosion directions and escape distances, rather than processing all possible part relationships. By filtering out unnecessary computational overhead and focusing only on blocking events that impact the exploded view generation, the system achieves high accuracy in explosion parameters without proportional increases in computational time.
3Productivity
If only directly adjacent CAD parts are considered, then the computational complexity is low, but the representation accuracy of complex product structures deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal blocking relationship analysis framework that functions for both adjacent and non-adjacent CAD parts. This multi-functional approach allows the same computational engine to handle simple adjacent-part cases efficiently while also capturing complex non-adjacent blocking relationships, thereby maintaining productivity across different product complexities without sacrificing representation accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses computational models and data structures that copy and reuse blocking relationship information across different part pairs and explosion scenarios. By caching and reusing blocking analysis results, the system avoids redundant computations when generating exploded views for complex products, thereby maintaining high efficiency while achieving comprehensive structure representation accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing system may include a model access engine configured to access a CAD model comprised of multiple CAD parts. The computing system may also include a model explosion engine configured to construct a blocking data structure for the CAD model that stores a blocking state for each pair of CAD parts of the CAD model (210) as well as an explosion graph for the CAD model. Iterative generation of the explosion graph by the model explosion engine may include querying the blocking data structure to determine unblocked CAD parts for which to insert a node into the explosion graph. The model explosion engine may also be configured to generate an exploded view representation of the CAD model using the constructed explosion graph.