POWERFUL NEW ALGORITHMS, INCORPORATING THE MANIPULATION AND DISPLAY OF DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENT DATA AGAINST SOLID MODELS, PROVIDE NEW INSIGHTS INTO MECHANICAL PART QUALITY AND MANUFACTURING PROCEDURES. A WORKSTATION- BASED SYSTEM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED AND TESTED AGAINST SUCH SEEMINGLY DIVERSE PRODUCTS AS AIRFOILS AND ENGINE COMPONENTS, AND AUTOMOTIVE FREE FORM SURFACES AND PROCESSES SUCH AS MACHINING AND FORMING, AS WELL AS TOOLING SUCH AS STAMPING DIES AND MOLDS. DATA COLLECTED ON CMMS IS FITTED TO THE SURFACE OF SOLID MODELS AND GRAPHICALLY DISPLAYED ON THE MODEL ON THE WORKSTATION SCREEN. RESULTS CAN BE SHARED IN INSPECTION, MANUFACTURING, AND DESIGN.