Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Existing an Envelope for a Parametric Family of Implicit Surfaces

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Let $F(x, y, z, \lambda)=0$ be a parametric family of implicit surfaces. Sometimes the envelope of the family exists as another surface, but at other times it may degenerate to a curve or a point, or even it can be empty.

Is there any know condition that guaranteed the existence of the envelope as a surface?