UNFORTUNATELY, SOLIDS MODELING IS SOMETHING THE ENGINEER LEARNS AFTER RECEIVING A DEGREE. DESPITE THE FACT THAT SOLIDS MODELING HAS BEEN SLOW TO CATCH ON, IT WILL EVENTUALLY BECOME THE CORE OF MOST CAD/CAM APPLICATIONS. LEADING VENDORS IN SOLIDS MODELING WILL BE THE LEADERS IN CAD/CAM AND WILL HAVE THE ADVANTAGE OVER OTHERS WHEN IT COMES TO CIM APPLICATIONS. IN THE NC AREA, SOLIDS MODELING CAN PROVIDE AN ENHANCED GEOMETRY DATABASE TO PERFORM COMPLEX MULTI-AXIS SCULPTURE SURFACE PROGRAMMING. WITH SOLIDS, THE PART CAN BE VERIFIED, AND THEN MACHINED, THUS ELIMINATING MANY OR ALL PROTOTYPE STAGES.