[Cad] Which CAD Kernel Should the FOSS and OSHW Communities Focus On?

[Daniel Bergey]

On 2015-11-09 at 22:59, Jeremy Wright <wrightjmf at gmail.com> wrote:
> Is there a single methodology (F-Rep, B-Rep, NURBS) that the various
> open source (and open hardware) communities could focus on developing,
> or is it not a one-size-fits-all situation?

This is one of the big questions I hope to be able to answer through
this reading group.

> From the research I've done, there are three main open source kernels with
> very different methodologies.
>
> 1. OpenCASCADE (B-Rep)
> 2. CGAL (F-Rep)
> 3. OpenNURBS (NURBS)

CGAL's CSG code works on polygon meshes (more specifically Nef
polyhedra), which I understand as a B-rep.  Is there some F-Rep code in
there also?

I think of NURBs as also being a type of B-rep, a bit more expressive
than only allowing triangles or polygons.

If the goal is software that can fill the role of Solidworks, CSG
operations on polygon meshes isn't enough, though it's probably a
necessary part.

cheers,
bergey