An unstructured tetrahedral mesh generation algorithm for 3D model with constraints is presented. To automatically generate a tetrahedral mesh for model with constraints, an advancing front algorithm is presented based on conforming constrained Delaunay tetrahedralization (CCDT). To reduce the number of visibility tests between vertices with respect to model faces as well as the computation of constrained Delaunay tetrahedra, a sufficient condition for DT (constrained Delaunay tetrahedralization whose simplexes are all Delaunay) existence is presented and utilized coupled to uniform grid and advancing front techniques in our algorithm. The mesh generator is robust and exhibits a linear time complexity for mechanical models with uniform density distribution. r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.