Recent three-dimensional feature-based CAD systems based on solid or non-manifold modelling functionality have been widely used for product design in manufacturing companies. When product models associated with features are used in various downstream applications such as analysis, however, simplified and abstracted models at various levels of detail (LODs) are frequently more desirable and useful than the full detailed model. To provide multi-resolution models, the features need to be rearranged according to a criterion that measures the significance of the feature. However, if the features are rearranged, the resulting shape is possibly different from the original because union and subtraction Boolean operations are not commutative. To solve this problem, in this paper, the new concept of the effective zone of a feature is defined and identified using Boolean algebra. By introducing the effective zone, an arbitrary rearrangement of features becomes possible and arbitrary LOD criteria may be selected to suit various applications. Besides, because the effective zone of a feature is independent of the data structure of the model, the multi-resolution modelling algorithm based on the effective zone can be implemented on any 3D CAD system based on conventional solid representations as well as non-manifold topological (NMT) representations.