Fondazione GraphiTech

Abstract — Modeling with 3D shapes plays a significant role in Industrial Design. Therefore semantic processing and interpretation of shapes and surfaces in CAD environments is an important problem. In this paper, we outline our architecture which integrates Knowledge Management and shape geometry for the purposes of cataloging, archiving and querying shapes. Unlike previous work, in our framework the textual annotation and geometry are closely integrated. We use domain knowledge encoded in a knowledge base to infer the geometric context of individual design elements and use this information to better analyze the corresponding shape. Our proposed architecture could be adapted in CAD applications where there is a well understood conceptual layering of the product assembly and the individual components are of similar geometry. I.