{"id":1141,"date":"2017-02-09T08:52:36","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T16:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/NX-Design-Blog\/Solid-Modeling-vs-Surface-Modeling-A-New-Way-Forward\/ba-p\/390560"},"modified":"2025-12-17T11:59:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:59:07","slug":"solid-modeling-vs-surface-modeling-a-new-way-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/solid-modeling-vs-surface-modeling-a-new-way-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Solid Modeling vs. Surface Modeling &#8211; A New Way Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><P>Solid modeling or surface modeling\u2026 this choice has plagued CAD designers and engineers since the dawn of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.plm.automation.siemens.com\/en_us\/products\/nx\/for-design\/index.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">3D CAD software<\/A>. Solid modeling was the preferred option for engineering, due to its mathematical precision. Technology constantly evolves though, and the emergence of high-precision, low-cost scanning and <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/NX-Design-Blog\/3D-Printing-Embrace-the-Future\/ba-p\/365307\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3D printing<\/A> have made facet data more valuable in engineering workflows.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>The problem is that, until now, you could not use facet and b-rep data together without halting the product development process for a few days while you perform the painful, time-consuming task of converting the data first. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/NX-Design-Knowledge-Base\/Convergent-Modelling-Technology-has-Arrived-in-NX-11\/ta-p\/353406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Convergent Modeling<\/A> changes all of that.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>&nbsp;<span class=\"lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-right\" style=\"width: 400px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/facet-topology-1.jpg\" alt=\"facet topology.jpg\" title=\"facet topology.jpg\" \/><\/span><U>Facet Modeling<\/U><\/P><br \/>\n<P>Represents 3D objects as surfaces of connected planar triangles. Commonly used for gaming, animation, and digital mockup.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><STRONG>Pros<\/STRONG><\/P><br \/>\n<P>Simple, intuitive<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Fast shape representation<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Ease of coding<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><STRONG>Cons<\/STRONG><\/P><br \/>\n<P>Less precise<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Engineering accuracy required very large datasets<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><U>Solid Modeling<\/U><\/P><br \/>\n<P><span class=\"lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-right\" style=\"width: 400px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/b-rep-technology-1.jpg\" alt=\"b rep technology.jpg\" title=\"b rep technology.jpg\" \/><\/span>Also called b-rep modeling or boundary representation. Uses mathematically defined surfaces connected by topology to represent objects as water tight volumes.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><STRONG>Pros<\/STRONG><\/P><br \/>\n<P>Fast, direct method<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Accurate in terms of volumes, mass<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Precise shape creation<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><STRONG>Cons<\/STRONG><\/P><br \/>\n<P>Complex and time-consuming<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Requires large system memory<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><U>Convergent Modeling<span class=\"lia-inline-image-display-wrapper lia-image-align-right\" style=\"width: 400px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/convergent-modeling-topology-optimization-4.jpg\" alt=\"convergent modeling topology optimization.jpg\" title=\"convergent modeling topology optimization.jpg\" \/><span class=\"lia-inline-image-caption\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault();\">An example of convergent modeling where solid modeling techniques are being used with facet data from topology optimization.<\/span><\/span><\/U><\/P><\/p>\n<p><P>Combines facets, surfaces and solids seamlessly in one environment. Import scanned 3D data and work directly with it.<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><STRONG>Pros<\/STRONG><\/P><br \/>\n<P>Supports new design and manufacturing technology:<\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI>Scanned 3D Data<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Topology Optimization results<\/LI><br \/>\n<LI>Design for 3D Printing<\/LI><br \/>\n<\/UL><br \/>\n<P>Fast, does not require data conversion<\/P><br \/>\n<P>Precise, reduces error prone rework<\/P><\/p>\n<p><P><\/p>\n<div class=\"lia-vid-container video-embed-center\">\n<div id=\"lia-vid-9nZzlrOTE6iWL6brupy_YLAlvTKiMuGHw400h225r273\" class=\"lia-video-ooyala-player-container\"><\/div>\n<p><script>LITHIUM.OoyalaPlayer.addVideo('https:\/\/player.ooyala.com\/static\/v4\/production\/', 'lia-vid-9nZzlrOTE6iWL6brupy_YLAlvTKiMuGHw400h225r273', '9nZzlrOTE6iWL6brupy_YLAlvTKiMuGH', {\"pcode\":\"sxdjkxOluLl_gSQrV57FiGraFE2-\",\"playerBrandingId\":\"ODI0MmQ3NjNhYWVjODliZTgzY2ZkMDdi\",\"width\":\"400px\",\"height\":\"225px\"});<\/script><a class=\"video-embed-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.plm.automation.siemens.com\/t5\/video\/gallerypage\/video-id\/9nZzlrOTE6iWL6brupy_YLAlvTKiMuGH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(view in My Videos)<\/a><\/div>\n<p><\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Solid modeling or surface modeling\u2026 this choice has plagued CAD designers and engineers since the dawn of 3D CAD software. Solid modeling was the preferred option for engineering, due to its mathemat&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53799,"featured_media":1151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[23],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[561],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-convergent-modeling"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/09\/convergent-modeling-topology-optimization-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53799"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1152,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/1152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.stage.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}