Patent Document ID: 5481465
Application ID: 08161598
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method of producing solid models, comprising the steps of: preparing input data taken from a solid mock-up model by extracting feature lines existing on an external surface of said mock-up model as arcs, to prepare a rough wire frame model of said solid mock-up model; reading said input data about said arcs of said rough wire frame model, the input data consisting of three-dimensional coordinates of terminal points and a formula of a curved line of each arc, wherein at least some of said terminal points are not connected to an adjacent line or another terminal point; determining three-dimensional coordinates of a node and arcs connected thereto, based on the input coordinates of the terminal points, wherein said rough frame model in which terminal points thereof are not connected is corrected in order to yield a completed wire frame model having all end points thereof connected to an adjacent line or another terminal point; specifying a set of arcs looping around a further-indivisible surface of said completed wire frame model, as an outermost line surrounding the entire completed wire frame model except for said indivisible surface; dividing a region of said completed wire frame model, surrounded wholly by the outermost line, or partly by the outermost line and partly by division lines, or wholly by the division lines, into two new partial wire frame models, by a new division line starting from a node located on the outermost line or one of the division lines, or at one of junction points thereof, traversing said region without making a loop, passing along each of the arc or arcs included in said region only once, and reaching another node located on the outermost line or one of the division lines, or at another junction point thereof; repeating the step of division until there remains no area which has not yet been passed through in any of the partial wire frame models; defining a set of arcs looping around each of the partial wire frame models which are further indivisible, as a surface loop of said completed wire frame model, the partial wire frame models making up a surface model from said completed wire frame model; and supplying data defining said surface model as input data to a numerically controlled machine tool for fabricating a press mold conforming to said surface model.