Direct generation is the approach in which you define the nodes and elements of a model directly. Despite the many convenience commands that allow you to copy, reflect, scale, etc. a given pattern of nodes or elements, direct generation can commonly require about ten times as many data entries to define a model as compared to solid modeling.

The information about planning (Planning Your Approach), coordinate systems (Coordinate Systems), and working planes (Using Working Planes) applies to direct generation as well as to solid modeling.

A model assembled by direct generation is defined strictly in terms of nodes and elements. Even though node and element generation operations can be interspersed, no one element can be defined until after all of its nodes have been created.