The textbook provides both beginner and experienced CAD users with the math behind the CAD. The geometry tools introduced here help the reader exploit commercial CAD software to its fullest extent. In fact, the book enables the reader to go beyond what CAD software packages offer in their menus. Chapter 1 summarizes the basic Linear and Vector Algebra pertinent to vectors in 3D, with some novelties: the 2D form of the vector product and the manipulation of "larger" matrices and vectors by means of block-partitioning of larger arrays. In chapter 2 the relations among points, lines and curves in the plane are revised accordingly; the difference between curves representing functions and their geometric counterparts is emphasized. Geometric objects in 3D, namely, points, planes, lines and surfaces are the subject of chapter 3; of the latter, only quadrics are studied, to keep the discussion at an elementary level, but the interested reader is guided to the literature on splines. The concept of affine transformations, at the core of CAD software, is introduced in chapter 4, which includes applications of these transformations to the synthesis of curves and surfaces that would be extremely cumbersome to produce otherwise. The book, catering to various disciplines such as engineering, graphic design, animation and architecture, is kept discipline-independent, while including examples of interest to the various disciplines. Furthermore, the book can be an invaluable complement to undergraduate lectures on CAD.

The textbook provides both beginner and experienced CAD users with the math behind the CAD. The geometry tools introduced here help the reader exploit commercial CAD software to its fullest extent. In fact, the book enables the reader to go beyond what CAD software packages offer in their menus. Chapter 1 summarizes the basic Linear and Vector Algebra pertinent to vectors in 3D, with some novelties: the 2D form of the vector product and the manipulation of "larger" matrices and vectors by means of block-partitioning of larger arrays. In chapter 2 the relations among points, lines and curves in the plane are revised accordingly; the difference between curves representing functions and their geometric counterparts is emphasized. Geometric objects in 3D, namely, points, planes, lines and surfaces are the subject of chapter 3; of the latter, only quadrics are studied, to keep the discussion at an elementary level, but the interested reader is guided to the literature on splines. The concept of affine transformations, at the core of CAD software, is introduced in chapter 4, which includes applications of these transformations to the synthesis of curves and surfaces that would be extremely cumbersome to produce otherwise. The book, catering to various disciplines such as engineering, graphic design, animation and architecture, is kept discipline-independent, while including examples of interest to the various disciplines. Furthermore, the book can be an invaluable complement to undergraduate lectures on CAD.

Performance indices and design charts can be used to quickly model and compare the structural efficiency of different shaped materials, layered systems and structural forms. This work presents a method for modelling the mass-efficiency of structures at the conceptual stage of design. The method is based on the concept of shape transformers, which describe dimensionless shape properties of a cross-section Shape transformers are size-independent and practical for defining classes of shapes in a way which is similar to the manner in which materials are classified. Used to formulate performance indices for lightweight shaped materials with arbitrarily scaled cross-sections and for plastic analysis of beams, shape transformers are conducive to visualize the effect of cross-section geometry and layer arrangement via material charts. These geometric operators help also to visualize the interaction between the selection of alternative structural forms and the choice of constituent member cross-section shapes. The method described here provides insight for engineers, students and educators involved in lightweight structural design.