Slice coherence in a query-based architecture for 3D heterogeneous printing

Abstract

We report on 3D printing of artifacts with a structured, inhomogeneous interior. The interior is decomposed into cells defined by a 3D Voronoi diagram and their sites. When printing such objects, most slices the printer deposits are topologically the same and change only locally in the interior. The slicing algorithm capitalizes on this coherence and minimizes print head moves that do not deposit material. This approach has been implemented on a client/server architecture that computes the slices on the geometry side. The slices are printed by fused deposition, and are communicated upon demand.