Patent ID: 6906712

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of processing a three-dimensional model of an object, the model comprising a plurality of model components, and the method comprising: constructing a data structure identifying different positional arrangements of the model components to represent different positions of movable ones of the model components; based on the data structure identifying the different positional arrangements, automatically generating an image of the model depicting a change in a position of a first one of the model components with respect to a second one of the model components; and wherein: generating the image comprises traversing a model hierarchy to render the image of the model, the model hierarchy comprising an interrelationship of the plurality of model components, and the image depicting the object having the model components in a first and in a second positional arrangement; the model hierarchy further comprises data representing different positional arrangements as defined during a model design process; traversing the model hierarchy to render the image comprises rendering the image based on the data representing the different positional arrangements; and generating the image further comprises: depicting a first component in both a first and a second position; rendering the image in a view area; and generating an annotation showing a dimension between a first entity in the first position and the first entity in the second position.