  For linear elastic problems, it is well-known that mesh generation dominates
the total analysis time. Different types of methods have been proposed to
directly or indirectly alleviate this burden associated with mesh generation.
We review in this paper a subset of such methods centred on tighter coupling
between computer aided design (CAD) and analysis (finite element or boundary
element methods). We focus specifically on frameworks which rely on
constructing a discretisation directly from the functions used to describe the
geometry of the object in CAD. Examples include B-spline subdivision surfaces,
isogeometric analysis, NURBS-enhanced FEM and parametric-based implicit
boundary definitions. We review recent advances in these methods and compare
them to other paradigms which also aim at alleviating the burden of mesh
generation in computational mechanics.
