D-Cubed’s Dimensional Constraint Manager

Abstract

Early constraint solvers used propagation techniques that were inadequate for solving simultaneous constraint problems. Simultaneous problems, also called variational problems, require solving systems of nonlinear equations and can be approached using a variety of numerical techniques such as Newton iteration or relaxation. DCM was the first commercial system to allow algebraic solutions to constraint problems, thereby achieving robustness previously not possible in variational solvers.