Patent ID: 8111256

Claim:
A method of altering a computer generated mesh model by a computer user to improve a design, said method comprising a computer executing programmed instructions stored in computer readable memory, said method comprising: providing a mesh model comprising a plurality of mesh model nodes as a first software generated graphical and numerical representation of said design; forming and positioning a plane with a geometric relationship to the mesh model as a second software generated graphical and numerical representation; defining an alteration area on the plane to be mapped into an alteration area on the mesh model; forming a 2D (2-dimensional) mesh on the plane comprising a plurality of mesh nodes within the plane alteration area, said 2D mesh created independently and without projection of the mesh model; defining a partial differential equation to be numerically solved using the 2D mesh on the plane; numerically solving the partial differential equation using said 2D mesh to obtain solved mesh node values; using the solved mesh node values to obtain new values for each mesh model node comprising the mesh model alteration area; and graphically regenerating the design using the mesh model nodes comprising the new values to form an altered portion of the mesh model comprising the desired alteration area.