We Did, And It Was Tougher Than You Think.

Sounds simple? Think again.

This wasn’t just a chair. It was a complex blend of soft surfaces, organic shapes, and compound curves, the kind of geometry that pushes reverse engineering beyond traditional boundaries.

Project Overview:

Objective: Rebuild a fully parametric, manufacturable CAD model from a scanned chair. Applications: Furniture reproduction, ergonomic redesign, digital archiving, fabrication readiness

Tools Used:

• Geomagic Design X (Pro version)
• Mesh segmentation, feature extraction, and region growing
• Hybrid surfacing with constrained sketching
• Parametric modeling with design intent preserved

Challenges Faced:

1. Organic Curvatures and Soft Transitions:

Unlike mechanical parts, chairs don’t follow perfect symmetry or strict geometric constraints. Capturing the ergonomic curves, especially around the armrests and backrest, meant manually slicing and sectioning the mesh to isolate consistent profiles.

➡ Solution: Used region growing with curvature filtering + interactive sectioning to rebuild clean spline-based contours.

2. Mesh Imperfections

Scan noise, stitching gaps, and non-manifold geometry, especially underneath the cushion and between fabric folds, made direct surface fitting unreliable.

➡ Solution: Applied localized mesh repair and decimated redundant mesh triangles to ensure smooth segmentation without losing fidelity.

3. Closed Loop Parametric Reconstruction

The model wasn’t just for visualization; it had to be edit-ready and manufacturing-compatible. That meant linking sketches, dimensions, and constraints across different bodies to reflect true design intent (not just visual replication).

➡ Solution: Combined reference geometry with sketch-driven extrusion and surfacing. The entire chair was rebuilt in a modular way, seat, legs, backrest, allowing easy future edits or part substitutions.

Final Result:

A watertight, fully editable CAD model ready for CAM, manufacturing, or design iteration.

All main parts are parameterized:

• Backrest curvature radius
• Seat thickness and width
• Leg positioning and dimensions
• Armrest fillets and spacing

Why It Matters:

Reverse engineering isn’t just for aerospace or automotive. It’s a design philosophy capturing reality, decoding intent, and enabling change. Whether it’s a turbine or a chair, the principles are the same.

Next up? We’re diving into legacy tooling and how to resurrect outdated molds with next-gen surfacing strategies.

👉 Stay tuned. 🔧 Stay curious. 🪑 Stay creative.