User:Rchillyard/Variational Geometry

Introduction

Variational Geometry is a concept within the field of Computer-Aided Design which allows the modeling of geometric (spatial) data that is expected to change. This concept was new to CAD discipline in 1978 when it was first introduced. Hitherto, CAD systems (or computer-aided drafting systems), modeled shapes that were dimensionally fixed. Thus it was quite normal for dimensions to be drawn and generally derived from the geometry. This, of course, was completely backward to the normal design function where dimensions are the variables and the actual coordinates of points are a consequence of the interactions of the various dimensions.

The concept was first introduced by Robin Hillyard at the University of Cambridge in a paper:

The idea was further developed, using the name Symbolic Dimensioning by David Gossard et. al.

References

| Characterizing non-ideal shapes in terms of dimensions and tolerances by R.C. Hillyard and I.C. Braid International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Proceedings of the 5th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques, pp. 234-238 [1]