System and method for identifying original design intents using 3D scan data

A tangible physical medium for use with a computing device, the tangible physical medium holding computer-executable instructions for approximating original design intents during the reverse engineering using 3D scan data, the instructions when executed causing a computing device to:

• provide a collection of 3D scan data representing the shape of a three dimensional object, the 3D scan data combined in a plurality of meshes, the plurality of meshes combined into a mesh model representing the three dimensional object;
• segment the mesh model with a segmentation facility into a plurality of mesh regions;
• select a mesh region and a design intent, the design intent being an original design feature;
• calculate programmatically a value for the selected design intent for the selected mesh region, the calculating using the 3D scan data for the selected mesh region;
• select a specified feature in a CAD model formed from the mesh model;
• and
• calculate an estimated parameter value for the specified feature using an executable software process to process the 3D scan data associated with the specified feature.