3D Model Representations and Transformations in the Context of Computer-Aided Design: a State-of-the-Art Overview

Within a virtual world, either in virtual reality or in a simulation environment, the digital counterparts of real objects are described by mathematical and computational models. Depending on the purpose, the field of application, and the used tool-chain a wide variety of model representations is established. As a consequence, conversion methods and transformation algorithms are becoming increasingly important. This article gives a state of the art overview on model representations and on the most important transformation techniques.