Rendering of surface-geometries at job-generation level for camouflaging the layered nature of Additively Manufactured parts

摘要

The layered nature of Additive Manufactured parts, specifically those given from the Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process, exhibit a distinct surface definition. The origin of this is from the 2.5D deposition scheme, which leaves the seam between the individual layers clearly visible.[1] It is proposed to camouflage these layers in order to produce parts with a better visual appeal, and to add functional surface structures. In order to generate such surface structures without adding a challenging computational overhead at job-generation, inspiration from Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) is found. An often used method for visualization of complex geometries within CGI is by producing a geometrical primitive after which the primitive is passed through a renderer.[2] Examples can be geometries with hair, leather structure and their like. Should the entire geometry including surface definition sought to be modelled as one three dimensional surface, the geometrical complexity of this would be of intangible proportions and force even the most modern computer clusters to depletion of computing power. The task is therefore handled with an abstraction layer between 3D geometry and texture. It is here the renderer handles the task of adding the surface to the geometry, as a part of the workflow of generating a deflated 2D image[3].