Wire-frame modelling techniques:

Early wire-frame modelling techniques, developed in the year of 1960s, were strictly two dimensional and were designed to automate drafting and simple NC program verification. In those days, users ought to construct the geometry of an object in the desired views independently because of the lack of centralized database systems. Afterwards, in the early 1970s, the centralized database concept enabled modelling of three-dimensional objects as wire- frame models that may be subject to three-dimensional transformations. Creating geometry in one view is automatically projected & displayed in other views. This increases user utilization by saving time and flexibility over manual design and drafting.

The major advantage of wire-frame modelling is its simplicity in construction of a model. Thus, it does not need as much computer time and memory as does surface or solid modelling. Though, the user time required in preparing and/or input data is substantial and increases quickly with the complexity of the object being modelled. Wire-frame models form the basis for surface models. Most present's surface algorithms require wire-frame entities to generate surfaces. Finally, the CPU time required retrieving, editing, or update a wire-frame model is generally small compared to surface or solid models.