Solid Modeling – Primitives

and Boolean Operations

Solid Primitives
Primitives are simple solid objects
created directly in a CAD system
Examples include: box, sphere,
cylinder, cone, wedge, torus
Model Building in AutoCAD
In AutoCAD, the following dimensions are
associated with the three coordinate axes:
Length - in x axis direction
Width - in y axis direction
Height - in z axis direction
Length, width and height can be
positive or negative
A positive dimension indicates
movement in direction of positive axis
A negative dimension indicates
movement in opposite, or negative
direction
Solid Composites
Primitives combined using Boolean
operations to create solid composites
Boolean operations used in solid modeling
are:
Union
Intersection
Subtraction
Union
In set theory, the union of two sets, A
and B, is represented pictorially as:
Union means set of all elements
belonging to either A or B
A B
Union of two or more solids
creates a composite solid
composed of combined volumes
of these solids
Intersection
Intersection of two sets, A and B:
Set of all elements belonging
to both A and B
A B
Intersection of two or more
solids
 creates a composite solid
 composed of volume common
to original solids
Subtraction 1
Subtraction of two sets, A and B:
Set of all elements
belonging to A but not B
A–B
Subtraction of two solids
 creates a composite solid
 composed of volume of
first solid minus common
volume shared with second
solid
Subtraction 2
Alternatively, B - A is represented
pictorially as:
Solid Modeling – Primitives
and Boolean Operations
Chega!