Hint-based feature recognition system

Despite the fact that present day engineering knowledge is predominantly in 2D form, only a few feature recognition work are based on the 2D packages. One possible reason for this lack is the difficulty involved in interpreting 2D drawings. Geometrical and topological information is scattered amongst various 2D views which make up the representation of a 3D solid. This information dispersal demands manipulation of all the views to obtain meaningful information. The ambiguity associated with 2D drawings in representing parts uniquely, which consequently produces an uncertain output when recognizing features, is another major reason for lack of work in 2D interpretation. Despite these difficulties, efforts in interpreting 2D drawing will have to continue. We present here the current state of a hint based system which recognizes features from 2D drawing.