METHODS AND SYSTEM FOR ENABLING PRINTING THREE-DIMENSIONAL OBJECT MODELS

• US 20110087350A1
• Filed: 10/08/2009
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3D M.T.P. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: 3D M.T.P. Ltd.
• Inventors: FOGEL, Effi, ADLER, Arik Maman, BASIL, Zohar
• Granted Patent: US 8,175,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/98
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2119/18 Manufacturability analysis or optimisation for manufacturability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method of transforming an inconsistent 3D (three-dimensional) model of one or more 3D objects into a valid printable 3D model, said method comprising: (a) receiving an input model file and/or receiving modeler data, giving rise to an input 3D model having one or more parts; (b) analyzing said input 3D model and removing its one or more inconsistencies; (c) thickening the one or more parts of said 3D model, while preserving their functionality; and (d) unifying the union of interior volumes of said one or more parts, thereby removing self intersections and/or intersections between the two or more parts, giving rise to a valid printable 3D model.

Claims

1. A method of transforming an inconsistent 3D (three-dimensional) model of one or more 3D objects into a valid printable 3D model, said method comprising:

a) receiving an input model file and/or receiving modeler data, giving rise to an input 3D model having one or more parts;

b) analyzing said input 3D model and removing its one or more inconsistencies;

c) thickening the one or more parts of said 3D model, while preserving their functionality; and

d) unifying the union of interior volumes of said one or more parts, thereby removing self-intersections and/or intersections between the two or more parts, giving rise to a valid printable 3D model.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising importing the input model file and/or the modeler data.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the importing further comprises one or more of the following:

a) parsing the input model file; and

b) obtaining the modeler data from a modeling application.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising scaling or clipping the 3D model according to one or more predefined criterions.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the scaling is performed automatically to fix the bounding box defined by a 3D printer.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the scaling is performed manually based on a user-provided predefined scale factor.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising controlling each step of said method by means of a viewer with a GUI (Graphical User Interface).

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising modifying the 3D model based on a physical analysis for connecting two or more disconnected model parts and forming a singly-connected 3D model.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising dividing the 3D model into one or more separated sub-models.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising selecting at least one separated sub-model to be printed substantially independently.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising removing one or more singularities from the 3D model.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the thickening further comprises one or more of the following:

a) vertical thickening; and

b) horizontal thickening.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the thickening further comprises:

a) determining whether the 3D model has convex subparts, and if not, decomposing parts of said 3D model into said convex sub-parts;

b) computing the width of each sub-part; and

c) thickening corresponding sub-parts, the vertical widths of which are smaller than a first predefined value, along the vertical direction, and thickening corresponding sub-parts, the horizontal widths of which are smaller than a second predefined value, along the horizontal direction.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising exporting the 3D model to be 3D printed.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the exporting further comprises one or more of the following:

a) storing the 3D model in an output model file that represents the model in a supported file-format; and

b) sending the 3D model to a 3D printer.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the output model file is an STL (stereolithography) file to be used for 3D printing.

17. A system configured to transform an inconsistent 3D (three-dimensional) model of one or more 3D objects into a valid printable 3D model, said system comprising:

a) an input model file and/or modeler data provided from a data storage device;

b) a sub-system configured to;

b.1. receive an input model file and/or receive modeler data provided from said data storage device, giving rise to an input 3D model having one or more parts;

b.2. analyze said input 3D model and remove its one or more inconsistencies;

b.3. thicken the one or more parts of said 3D model, while preserving their functionality; and

b.4. unify the union of the interior volumes of said one or more parts, thereby removing self-intersections and/or intersections between the two or more parts, thereby giving rise to a valid printable 3D model; and

c) a 3D printer for printing said valid printable 3D model.

18. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform a method of transforming an inconsistent 3D (three-dimensional) model of one or more 3D objects into a valid printable 3D model, said method comprising:

a) receiving an input model file and/or receiving modeler data, giving rise to an input 3D model having one or more parts;

b) analyzing said input 3D model and removing its one or more inconsistencies;

c) thickening the one or more parts of said 3D model, while preserving their functionality; and

d) unifying the union of interior volumes of said one or more parts, thereby removing self-intersections and/or intersections between the two or more parts, giving rise to a valid printable 3D model.

19. The program storage device according to claim 18, wherein the method further comprises dividing the 3D model into one or more separated sub-models.

20. The program storage device according to claim 19, wherein the method further comprises selecting at least one separated sub-model to be printed substantially independently.