Natural Form Modeling

摘要

Most engineering software has been designed and optimized for parametric shapes. Sophisticated modeling of natural objects is free-form based, reflecting their inherent design. The merging of natural with parametric-based forms presents additional challenges. While work is needed, there are solutions that enable natural form modeling and analysis. Our focus is to use medical imaging and 3D modeling to analyze the natural form of human joint structure with specific application to joint replacement. The need for natural form modeling is also present in such other fields as varied as art, archeology and paleontology. In this chapter we illustrate examples of the breadth and power of natural form modeling.