Method for generating and building support structures with deposition-based digital manufacturing systems
First Claim
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1. A method for building a support structure with a deposition-based digital manufacturing system, the method comprising:
- (a) providing an outer boundary polygon of a layer of the support structure;
(b) generating a convex hull polygon based on the outer boundary polygon;
(c) offsetting the convex hull polygon inward;
(d) offsetting the outer boundary polygon outward toward the convex hull polygon;
(e) generating an intersection boundary polygon based at least in part on intersections of the offset boundary polygon and the offset convex hull polygon;
(f) repeating steps (b)-(e) for a plurality of successively lower layers of the support structure, wherein each generated intersection boundary polygon is provided as the boundary polygon for a next layer of the successively lower layers; and
(g) building the support structure with the deposition-based digital manufacturing system based in part on tool path data from the generated intersection boundary polygons, wherein the built support structure has convex dimensions that reduce in complexity in a downward direction along a build axis such that the built support structure has a lower volume than that of a bulk support structure having vertical walls.
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Abstract
A method for generating data for a support structure to be built with a deposition-based digital manufacturing system, the method comprising generating a convex hull polygon based on a boundary polygon of a layer of the support structure, offsetting the convex hull polygon inward, offsetting the boundary polygon outward, and generating an intersection boundary polygon based at least in part on the offset boundary polygon and the offset convex hull polygon.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for building a support structure with a deposition-based digital manufacturing system, the method comprising:
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(a) providing an outer boundary polygon of a layer of the support structure; (b) generating a convex hull polygon based on the outer boundary polygon; (c) offsetting the convex hull polygon inward; (d) offsetting the outer boundary polygon outward toward the convex hull polygon; (e) generating an intersection boundary polygon based at least in part on intersections of the offset boundary polygon and the offset convex hull polygon; (f) repeating steps (b)-(e) for a plurality of successively lower layers of the support structure, wherein each generated intersection boundary polygon is provided as the boundary polygon for a next layer of the successively lower layers; and (g) building the support structure with the deposition-based digital manufacturing system based in part on tool path data from the generated intersection boundary polygons, wherein the built support structure has convex dimensions that reduce in complexity in a downward direction along a build axis such that the built support structure has a lower volume than that of a bulk support structure having vertical walls. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for building a support structure with a deposition-based digital manufacturing system, the method comprising:
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(a) providing vertices defining an outer boundary polygon for a layer of the support structure; (b) generating vertices of a convex hull polygon based on the vertices of the boundary polygon; (c) offsetting the vertices of the convex hull polygon inward to provide an offset convex hull polygon; (d) offsetting the vertices of the outer boundary polygon outward toward the vertices of the convex hull polygon to provide an offset boundary polygon; (e) generating an intersection boundary polygon having vertices, wherein at least a portion of the vertices of the intersection boundary polygon are selected from the group consisting of a vertex that is located at an intersection of the offset boundary polygon and the offset convex hull polygon, a vertex of the offset boundary polygon located inside of the offset convex hull polygon, a vertex of the offset convex hull polygon located inside of the offset boundary polygon, and combinations thereof; (f) repeating steps (b)-(e) for a plurality of successively lower layers of the support structure, wherein each generated intersection boundary polygon is provided as the boundary polygon for a next layer of the successively lower layers; and (g) building the support structure with the deposition-based digital manufacturing system based in part on tool path data from the generated intersection boundary polygons, wherein the built support structure has convex dimensions that reduce in complexity in a downward direction along a build axis and wherein the built support structure has a lower volume than that of a bulk support structure having vertical walls. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for building a support structure with a deposition-based digital manufacturing system, the method comprising:
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generating a convex hull polygon based on an outer boundary polygon for each of a plurality of successively lower layers of the support structure; offsetting the convex hull polygon inward for each of the plurality of successively lower layers; offsetting the outer boundary polygon outward toward the convex hull polygon for each of the plurality of successively lower layers; generating an intersection boundary polygon for each of the plurality of layers based at least in part on intersections of the offset boundary polygon and the offset convex hull polygon, wherein each generated intersection boundary polygon is provided as the boundary polygon for a next lower layer of the successively lower layers; and generating a tool path for each of the successively lower layers based at least in part on the intersection boundary polygon for the layer; transmitting the generated tool paths to the deposition-based digital manufacturing system; and building the support structure based at least in part on the transmitted tool paths, wherein the support structure has convex dimensions that reduce in complexity in a downward direction along a build axis such that the built support structure has a lower volume than that of a bulk support structure having vertical walls. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification