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Boundaryrepresentation
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CoachworkexamplegeneratedusingtheBRepmodel.Notice
thatthesurfaceareasarestitchedtogether.
Insolidmodelingandcomputeraideddesign,boundaryrepresentationoftenabbreviatedasBrep
orBREPisamethodforrepresentingshapesusingthelimits.Asolidisrepresentedasacollection
ofconnectedsurfaceelements,theboundarybetweensolidandnonsolid.

Contents
1Overview
2History
3Standardization
4Furtherreading
5Seealso
6Externallinks

Overview[edit]
Boundaryrepresentationmodelsarecomposedoftwoparts:topologyandgeometry(surfaces,curves
andpoints).Themaintopologicalitemsare:faces,edgesandvertices.Afaceisaboundedportionof
asurfaceanedgeisaboundedpieceofacurveandavertexliesatapoint.Otherelementsarethe
shell(asetofconnectedfaces),theloop(acircuitofedgesboundingaface)andloopedgelinks(also
knownaswingededgelinksorhalfedges)whichareusedtocreatetheedgecircuits.Theedgesare
liketheedgesofatable,boundingasurfaceportion.[clarificationneeded]

History[edit]
ThebasicmethodforBREPwasdevelopedindependentlyintheearly1970sbybothIanC.Braidin
Cambridge(forCAD)andBruceG.BaumgartatStanford(forcomputervision).Braidcontinuedhis
workwiththeresearchsolidmodellerBUILDwhichwastheforerunnerofmanyresearchand
commercialsolidmodellingsystems.BraidworkedonthecommercialsystemsROMULUS,the
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forerunnerofParasolid,andonACIS.ParasolidandACISarethebasisformanyoftoday's
commercialCADsystems.
FollowingBraid'sworkforsolids,aSwedishteamledbyProfessorTorstenKjellberg,developedthe
philosophyandmethodsforworkingwithhybridmodels,wireframes,sheetobjectsandvolumetric
modelsduringtheearly1980s.InFinland,MarttiMntylproducedasolidmodellingsystemcalled
GWB.IntheUSAEastmanandWeilerwerealsoworkingonBoundaryRepresentationandinJapan
ProfessorFumihikoKimuraandhisteamatTokyoUniversityalsoproducedtheirownBrep
modellingsystem.
Comparedtotheconstructivesolidgeometry(CSG)representation,whichusesonlyprimitiveobjects
andBooleanoperationstocombinethem,boundaryrepresentationismoreflexibleandhasamuch
richeroperationset.ThismakesboundaryrepresentationamoreappropriatechoiceforCAD
systems.[citationneeded]CSGwasusedinitiallybyseveralcommercialsystemsbecauseitwaseasierto
implement.TheadventofreliablecommercialBrepkernelsystemslikeParasolidandACIS,
mentionedabove,hasledtowidespreadadoptionofBrepforCAD.AswellastheBoolean
operations,Brephasextrusion(orsweeping),chamfer,blending,drafting,shelling,tweakingand
otheroperationswhichmakeuseofthese.
Boundaryrepresentationisessentiallyalocalrepresentationconnectingfaces,edgesandvertices.An
extensionofthiswastogroupsubelementsoftheshapeintologicalunitscalledgeometricfeatures,
orsimplyfeatures.PioneeringworkwasdonebyKyprianouinCambridgealsousingtheBUILD
systemandcontinuedandextendedbyJaredandothers.Featuresarethebasisofmanyother
developments,allowinghighlevel"geometricreasoning"aboutshapeforcomparison,process
planning,manufacturing,etc.
Boundaryrepresentationhasalsobeenextendedtoallowspecial,nonsolidmodeltypescallednon
manifoldmodels.AsdescribedbyBraid,normalsolidsfoundinnaturehavethepropertythat,at
everypointontheboundary,asmallenoughspherearoundthepointisdividedintotwopieces,one
insideandoneoutsidetheobject.[citationneeded]Nonmanifoldmodelsbreakthisrule.Animportant
subclassofnonmanifoldmodelsaresheetobjectswhichareusedtorepresentthinplateobjectsand
integratesurfacemodellingintoasolidmodellingenvironment.

Standardization[edit]
Intheworldofdataexchange,STEP,theStandardfortheExchangeofProductModeldataalso
definessomedatamodelsforboundaryrepresentations.Thecommongenerictopologicaland
geometricmodelsaredefinedinISO1030342Geometricandtopologicalrepresentation.The
followingApplicationIntegratedResources(AICs)defineboundarymodelsthatareconstraintsofthe
genericgeometricandtopologicalcapabilities:
ISO10303511Topologicallyboundedsurface,definitionofanadvancedface,thatisa
boundedsurfacewherethesurfaceisoftypeelementary(plane,cylindrical,conical,spherical
ortoroidal),orasweptsurface,orbsplinesurface.Theboundariesaredefinedbylines,conics,
polylines,surfacecurves,orbsplinecurves
ISO10303514Advancedboundaryrepresentation,asoliddefiningavolumewithpossible
voidsthatiscomposedbyadvancedfaces
ISO10303509Manifoldsurface,anonintersectingareain3Dthatiscomposedbyadvanced
faces
ISO10303521Manifoldsubsurface,asubareaoutofamanifoldsurface
ISO10303508Nonmanifoldsurface,anykindofadvancedfacearrangement
ISO10303513ElementaryboundaryrepresentationsimilartoISO10303514,butrestrictedto
theelementarysurfacesonly
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ISO10303512Facetedboundaryrepresentationasimplifiedsurfacemodelconstructedby
planarsurfacesonly

Furtherreading[edit]
FurtherinformationaboutBoundaryRepresentationcanbefoundinavarietyofpapersandthe
followingbooks:
MarttiMntyl:"AnIntroductiontoSolidModeling",ComputerSciencePress,ISBN0881751081,
1988.
H.Chiyokura:"SolidModellingwithDESIGNBASE",AddisonWesleyPublishingCompany,ISBN
0201192454,1988.
IanStroud:"BoundaryRepresentationModellingTechniques,Springer,ISBN1846283124,2006

Seealso[edit]
Wingededge
Spline
Coonssurface
Beziercurve
Beziersurface
Bspline

NURBS
Solidmodeling
Constructivesolidgeometry(CSG)
Functionrepresentation
Combinatorialmaps

Externallinks[edit]
OpenCascadeanopensourcelibraryforBRepsolidmodeling
ActualexampleofsourceboundaryrepresentationinSTEPformat
SimpleGeoaBrep/CSGhybridmodelingsystemforMonteCarloparticletransport
simulations
FreeREPOpensourcegeometrykerneldevelopment
BrepAboundaryrepresentationbasedmodeler
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