A fast spatial representation method (applied to fixture design)

A type of cellular-decomposition, solid-model representation based on variable orthorhombic cells and using a threedimensional matrix data structure is presented. It was developed to do two things that other representation methods cannot do easily or quickly. This method directly provides information concerning intersecting components, and it is fast enough to allow checks for intersection to be made in iterative routines. The method has application to layout design where interference checking is important. The method and the essential algorithms are described. An application to fixture design is presented.