A method and apparatus is directed to an integration of a computer modeling process
in which a Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine is used for manufacture
or rapid prototyping. As a result, conventional processes that require a level
of human interface during the intermediate stages are minimized or otherwise removed.
Intermediate stages include Computer Aided Design(CAD) stage, Computer Aided Engineering
(CAE) stage, Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) stage and Computer Numerical Controlled
(CNC) machine stage. By using Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS), a CAD data
file is converted for direct input to the CNC machine that is able to read NURBS
instruction codes. In particular, the method and apparatus is a paradigm shift
(from conventional approaches to minimizing human interfaces in which the product
features are defined) to NURBS which describes geometrically the difference between
the material blank from which the product (or prototype) is made and the product
itself using boolean substraction.
