Progressive mesh representation and generation have become one of the most important issues in network-based computer graphics. However, current researches are mostly focused on triangular mesh models. On the other hand, solid models are widely used in industry and are applied to advanced applications such as product design and virtual assembly. Moreover, as the demand to share and transmit these solid models over the network is emerging, the generation and the transmission of progressive solid models depending on specific engineering needs and purpose are essential. In this paper, we present a Cellular Topology-based approach to generating and transmitting progressive solid models from a feature-based solid model for internet-based design and collaboration. The proposed approach introduces a new scheme for storing and transmitting solid models over the network. The Cellular Topology (CT) approach makes it possible to effectively generate progressive solid models and to efficiently transmit the models over the network with compact model size. Thus, an arbitrary solid model SM designed by a set of design features is stored as a much coarser solid model SM⁰ together with a sequence of n detail records that indicate how to incrementally refine SM⁰ exactly back into the original solid model SM = SM⁰.