This paper presents a new methodology for finishing sculptured surfaces on 3-axis CNC milling machines using ball end mill tools. The suggested methodology is based on the localization of local forms composing the surfaces and is divided into three stages. In the first stage, the surfaces are triangulated semi adaptively. In the second stage, the local forms of points are identified (concave, convex, plane, concave developable, convex developable and saddle), thereafter the triangles having the

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... same local form are grouped into the same region and then each region is subdivided in sub regions. In the last stage, the final optimum set of tools is determined for each sub region. This methodology is more efficient when using machining centers and when the geometry of the surfaces is complex and composed of many distinguished regions. This approach allows us to obtain a significant reduction of machining times and hence the costs.