Browsing by Author "Bronsvoort, Willem F."

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    Interactive facilities for collaborative feature modelling on the Web
    (The Eurographics Association, 2022) Bidarra, Rafael; Berg, Eelco van den; Bronsvoort, Willem F.; Joaquim Madeira; Jorge Salvador Marques; Miguel Salles Dias; Joaquim A. Jorge
    Collaborative modeling systems are distributed multiple-user systems that are both concurrent and synchronized, aimed at supporting engineering teams in coordinating their modeling activities. During a collaborative modeling session, several users are connected to each other in order to perform activities, such as design, manufacturing planning or evaluation, together, using some common product data. An interesting research challenge is to develop a collaborative modeling system that offers all facilities of advanced modeling systems to its users. This paper focuses on the interactive modeling facilities required by such collaborative modeling systems. Previous work in the area of collaborative modeling is surveyed, and several techniques for interaction with feature models are presented, ranging from display of sophisticated feature model images to interactive selection facilities, which have been implemented in the web-based collaborative feature modeling system webSPIFF. It has a client-server architecture, with an advanced feature modeling system as a basis of the server, providing feature validation, multiple views and sophisticated visualization facilities. The architecture of webSPIFF, the functionality of the server and the clients, their communication mechanisms, and the distribution of model data is described. In particular, maintenance and synchronization of model data at the clients, and techniques for their effective utilization for enhancing user interaction and collaboration are described. It is shown that a good compromise between interactivity and network load has been achieved, and that indeed advanced modeling with a collaborative system is feasible.
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    Validity Maintenance of Models with Interacting Features
    (The Eurographics Association, 2023) Bidarra, Rafael; Bronsvoort, Willem F.; António Augusto de Sousa; José Carlos Teixeira
    Current feature-based modelling systems fail to adequately maintain feature semantics. This is partly due to inappropriate specification of validity conditions in feature classes, but mainly due to a Jack of effective validity maintenance mechanisms throughout the modelling process. An essential aspect in this is feature interaction management. This paper presents a new approach to the detection of feature interactions, which uses semantic and interaction constraints in feature class specification. Validity maintenance is automatically performed after each modelling operation by checking these constraints, thus being able to detect a variety of interaction types. Such interactions are then analyzed, and their causes identified and reported to the user.
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    Web-based direct manipulation of feature models
    (The Eurographics Association, 2021) Bidarra, Rafael; Bunnik, Andre van; Bronsvoort, Willem F.; Marcos, Adérito and Mendonça, Ana and Leitão, Miguel and Costa, António and Jorge, Joaquim
    Providing advanced 3D interactive facilities to users of a client-server collaborative modeling system presents a great challenge when thin clients are involved, mainly due to their lack of both a proper CAD model and the adequate modeling and solving functionality. This paper presents a new approach that provides a convenient representation of feature model data suitable for direct manipulation of feature models at such clients. It combines all advantages of a thin client approach with the sort of 3D direct manipulation facilities usually only found in powerful standalone CAD systems.