🎯 This tutorial introduces implicit modeling, fields, and workflows in Cognitive Design, using an open lattice built on a GE-bracket as the worked example.

Learning goals

By the end of this tutorial you will be able to:

• Understand what implicit modeling is and why it overcomes the limits of classical B-Rep CAD.
• Recognize what FRep, SDF, and field-driven design are, and how fields flow through the Cognitive Design workflow.
• Understand what computational design is and how it enables reusable, parametric workflows.
• Apply these concepts by building an open lattice on a GE-bracket using Boolean operations and a Transfer Function.

1. What is implicit modeling?

Implicit modeling represents a 3D shape with a mathematical function ϕ(x, y, z) defined in space, instead of a collection of surfaces and edges.

The surface of the part is one level of this function:

• ϕ(x, y, z) < 0 → the point is inside the part
• ϕ(x, y, z) = 0 → the point lies on the surface
• ϕ(x, y, z) > 0 → the point is outside the part

Because the geometry is stored as a continuous field, it becomes much easier to blend, cut, and combine shapes smoothly, even for very complex designs such as lattices or organic structures.

2. What is FRep?

In Cognitive Design, every implicit body (shell, lattice, offset, etc.) is represented internally as an FRep field. You never see the equation directly, but each node you add in the workflow modifies this underlying field.

FRep fields are passed from node to node as FRep in and FRep out ports. Operations like Thicken, Periodic Structures, or Boolean Operations all take one or more FRep inputs and output a new FRep with the updated shape.