STRUCTURE USING THREE-DIMENSIONAL HALFTONING
First Claim
1. An apparatus to generate control data for production of a three-dimensional object comprising:
- a halftone generator to apply a halftoning operation to data defining at least a portion of the three-dimensional object,the halftone generator being arranged to process the data defining at least the portion of the three-dimensional object in association with a three-dimensional threshold matrix to output discrete material formation instructions for at least one production material; and
a matrix generator to generate the three-dimensional threshold matrix for use by the halftone generator, the matrix generator being arranged to;
obtain a structural volume coverage representation defined with reference to at least one volume element corresponding to the three-dimensional object, the structural volume coverage representation comprising data values defining a probabilistic distribution of at least two different structures available for the production of the three-dimensional object;
compare at least one of said data values of the structural volume coverage representation to a predetermined blending threshold; and
assigning a data value associated with one of the at least two structures to at least one corresponding volume element of the three-dimensional threshold matrix based on the comparison.
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Abstract
Certain examples described herein relate to the use of three-dimensional threshold matrices in the production of three-dimensional objects. In one case, data values for a three-dimensional matrix for use in halftoning are assigned based on a structural volume coverage representation. In certain described cases, the structural volume coverage representation defines a probabilistic distribution of at least two different structures available for the production of the three-dimensional object. A comparison is performed based on data values for the structural volume coverage representation. The output of the comparison is a data value to be assigned to the three-dimensional matrix. The resultant three-dimensional matrix is used in a halftoning operation to control a structure distribution in the three-dimensional object.
26 Citations
15 Claims
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1. An apparatus to generate control data for production of a three-dimensional object comprising:
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a halftone generator to apply a halftoning operation to data defining at least a portion of the three-dimensional object, the halftone generator being arranged to process the data defining at least the portion of the three-dimensional object in association with a three-dimensional threshold matrix to output discrete material formation instructions for at least one production material; and a matrix generator to generate the three-dimensional threshold matrix for use by the halftone generator, the matrix generator being arranged to; obtain a structural volume coverage representation defined with reference to at least one volume element corresponding to the three-dimensional object, the structural volume coverage representation comprising data values defining a probabilistic distribution of at least two different structures available for the production of the three-dimensional object; compare at least one of said data values of the structural volume coverage representation to a predetermined blending threshold; and assigning a data value associated with one of the at least two structures to at least one corresponding volume element of the three-dimensional threshold matrix based on the comparison. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for generating a three-dimensional halftone threshold matrix for use in production of a three-dimensional object, comprising:
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obtaining a structural volume coverage representation for the three-dimensional object, the structural volume coverage representation comprising a structural volume coverage vector for at least one volume of the three-dimensional object, the structural volume coverage vector representing a proportional volumetric coverage of at least two different matrices; and assigning a halftone threshold value to a corresponding volume of the three-dimensional halftone threshold matrix based on a comparison of the structure volume coverage vector with a predetermined blending threshold, the halftone threshold value corresponding to one of the at least two different matrices, wherein the three-dimensional halftone threshold matrix is applicable to an object definition for at least a portion of the three-dimensional object to instruct production of at least said portion of the three-dimensional object. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising an electronic data structure for use in three-dimensional halftoning, the electronic data structure comprising:
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data values defined in association with a plurality of co-ordinates in three-dimensional space, the co-ordinates being defined according to a grid resolution in x, y and z dimensions, wherein the data values comprise threshold values for a three-dimensional halftone operation and are representative of a plurality of z-dimension planes arranged parallel to the x and y dimensions, and wherein at least one data value comprises an indication of one of at least two different predefined spatial structures, wherein said indication is determined based on a probabilistic distribution of the at least two different predefined spatial structures obtained for the co-ordinates associated with said data value.
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Specification