Realtime 3D simulation of 3-axis milling using isometric projection

The paper presents an efficient realtime simulator for 3-axis milling processes. In this system, solid modeling is performed using isometric projection with a z-map structure. As a result, all the solid elements are either fully exposed or fully hidden, and they are well arranged and symmetrical. These characteristics make visible surface determination for the raster display more efficient, and they reduce the memory requirements considerably. As a result, this efficient and realtime voxel-based model can simulate NC milling processes satisfactorily even in personal computers, without the aid of extra hardware devices or coprocessors. This simulation system will be useful to NC programmers and machining operators for identifying programs and checking gross programming errors visually.