• Solid Modeling Solutions Releases VSLib
• SMS Experiences Major Disruption with Windstorm
• SMS and 3DCAD Tips
• SMS Wishes Everyone Happy Holidays

Solid Modeling Solutions chose to delay VSLib's initial availability to February in order to implement a number of SMLib improvements, and that development took considerably more time than previously planned. As a result we have a much more robust SMLib with significantly improved Boolean functions, fillets and blends, and reduced memory leaks. SMLib functionality is the basis for SVLib, but all of our customers benefit from this investment.

To review the information from our July newsletter, SVLib provides deformable modeling as part of a library using the constrained optimization techniques of the calculus of variations. More details are available by contacting info@smlib.com. The library supports several very different geometric operations:

Gap Refinement

• Reduce surface/edge gap sizes to a specified tolerance by modifying the shape of an existing surface a minimal amount without introducing sharp surface bends or dog-legs.
• Helps repair poorly made databases.

Deformable Modeling

• Design fair curve and surface shapes by setting and moving constraint point locations.
• Any number of constraint points can be located anywhere on the shape and each may constrain any combination of the shape’s differential properties: position, tangents, normals, curvatures, etc. The shape is deformed to interpolate all the constraints while keeping the surface/curve shape smooth and fair.
• Deform surfaces while interpolating any number of arbitrarily placed trim curves.
• Helps enable interactive sculpting applications using a tight loop of user input to modify constraint point values, automated surface recomputation, followed by surface rendering.

Improved Curve and Surface Approximations

• Create smooth and nicely parameterized low-control point count BSpline curve and surface approximations from high-count sample point sets. Individual sample points can contain any combination of position, tangency, normal, or curvature values.
• Each sample point value, in any combination, can either be interpolated or approximated.
• The number of output control points is decoupled from the number of input sample points. Output control point count depends only on shape complexity and desired tolerance. For example, a simple bi-Cubic surface sampled by 10,000 points can be approximated by a Bspline surface with 16 control points.

Global Deformations

• Create variations of existing Brep models by embedding them into a deformable 3 space. Change the shape of the Brep into a new valid Brep by smoothly deforming the space in which it is embedded. The user interface for bending space mimics the user interface for sculpting surfaces allowing space to be deformed by pulling on constraint points while constraining the space to interpolate an arbitrary set of 3d points, curves, and surfaces.

A major windstorm struck the Northwest Thursday night, December 14. Power was disrupted for days to over 1,000,000 residences throughout the Pacific Northwest. In the Seattle area, home to SMS headquarters and key development and support staff, outages lasted for days. Robert Blomgren still has no power as of Tuesday, December 19. Robin Lindner has power, but his telephone and Internet Service Provider are still not up and running. We are closely monitoring all emails to support@smlib.com which should be used for all support inquiries. All other email is being handled, but there are inevitable delays in our support for which we apologize. There are still over 200,000 residences without power and many stories of suffering and in some cases death due to falling trees and carbon monoxide poisoning as people try to cope without heat and utilities. Your patience through this disaster is much appreciated. It is one of the worst storms on record for the Pacific Northwest.

SMS is happy to cooperate with Don Lacourse, the editor of 3DCAD Tips, a weekly newsletter full to tips, tutorials, and more (www.3dcadtips.com). CAD users and developers will find a lot of very useful information in the newsletter and website.

The entire staff wish each and everyone a very happy holiday season. We at SMS have had a very good year for which we and our customers are very grateful. We hope for even a better year in 2007 and wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year!

From the staff of Solid Modeling Solutions

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