2. Use interactive tools to create complex 3-D objects and boundary conditions.

Surfaces are critical to the behavior of many Earth processes, and natural surfaces are rarely planar. The mathematical description of natural surfaces (e.g. topography, fault planes, and crystal surfaces) is difficult due to intrinsic roughness at many scales. New interactive graphics tools allow construction of surfaces and objects in 3-D that are then mathematically described by software algorithms. The ability to rapidly create complex objects for use in models will allow the use of more realistic boundary conditions and objects in Earth science modeling.