In this paper, an integrated approach is proposed to generate gouging-free Cartesian tool paths for machining sculptured surfaces from 3D measurement data. The integrated CAD/CAM system consists of two modules : offset surface module an Carteian tool path module. The offset surface module generates an offset surface of an object from its 3D measurement data, using an offsetting method and a surface fitting method. The offsetting is based on the idea that the envelope of an inversed tool generates an offset surface without self-intersection as the center of the inversed tool moves along on the surface of an object. The surface-fitting is the process of constructing a compact representation to model the surface of an object based on a fairly large number of data points. The resulting offset surtace is a composite Bezier surface without self-intersection. When an appropriate tool-approach direction is selected, the tool path module generates the Cartesian tool paths while the deviation of the tool paths from the surface stays within the user-specified tolerance. The tool path module is a two-step process. The first step adaptively subdivides the offset surface into subpatches until the thickness of each subpatch is small enough to satisfy the user-defined tolerance. The second step generates the Cartesian tool paths by calculating the intersection of the slicing planes and the adaptively subdivided subpatches. This tool path generation approach generates the gouging-free Cartesian CL tool paths, and optimizes the cutter movements by minimizing the number of interpolated points.