Editing Constructive solid geometry (section)

{{short description|Creating a complex 3D surface or object by combining primitive objects}}
[[File:Csg tree.png|thumb|300px|CSG objects can be represented by binary trees, where leaves represent primitives, and nodes represent operations. In this figure, the nodes are labeled {{math|&cap;}} for [[Intersection (set theory)|intersection]], {{math|&cup;}} for [[Union (set theory)|union]], and {{math|&mdash;}} for [[Complement (set theory)#Relative complement|difference]].]]

'''Constructive solid geometry''' ('''CSG'''; formerly called '''computational binary solid geometry''') is a technique used in [[solid modeling]]. Constructive solid geometry allows a modeler to create a complex surface or object by using [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] [[Operator (programming)|operator]]s to combine simpler objects,<ref name="foley">{{citation|title=Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice|first=James D.|last=Foley|authorlink=James D. Foley|publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional|year=1996|isbn=9780201848403|contribution=12.7 Constructive Solid Geometry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-4ngT05gmAQC&pg=PA557|pages=557–558}},</ref> potentially generating visually complex objects by combining a few primitive ones.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Roth |first=Scott |title=Ray Casting for Modeling Solids |journal=Computer Graphics and Image Processing |pages=109–144 |volume=18 |date=1982|issue=2 |doi=10.1016/0146-664X(82)90169-1 }}</ref><ref name="bb">{{citation|title=Introduction to Implicit Surfaces|first1=Jules|last1=Bloomenthal|first2=Chandrajit|last2=Bajaj|author2-link=Chandrajit Bajaj|publisher=Morgan Kaufmann|year=1997|isbn=9781558602335|contribution=5.2.5 Intersection with CSG Trees|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T3SSqIVnS4YC&pg=PA178|pages=178–180}}.</ref>

In [[3D computer graphics]] and [[Computer-aided design|CAD]], CSG is often used in [[procedural modeling]]. CSG can also be performed on [[Polygon mesh|polygonal meshes]], and may or may not be procedural and/or parametric.

Contrast CSG with [[polygon mesh]] modeling and [[box modeling]].