From 3D models to 3D prints: an overview of the processing pipeline

• Published in: Computer graphics forum Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 537 - 564
• Main Authors: Livesu, Marco, Ellero, Stefano, Martínez, Jonàs, Lefebvre, Sylvain, Attene, Marco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2017; Wiley
• Subjects: 3-D printers; Additive manufacturing; Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS); Computer Aided Engineering; Computer graphics; Computer Science; Geometric algorithms; Geometry; Graphics; I.3.5 [Computer Graphics]: Computational Geometry and Object Modelling—Geometric algorithms, languages, and systems; J.6 [Computer‐Aided Engineering]: Computer‐aided manufacturing (CAM); Process planning; State of the art; Teaching methods; Three dimensional models; Three dimensional printing; Computational Geometry and Object Modeling; Computer-aided manufacturing CAM
• ISSN: 0167-7055; 1467-8659
• DOI: 10.1111/cgf.13147

Due to the wide diffusion of 3D printing technologies, geometric algorithms for Additive Manufacturing are being invented at an impressive speed. Each single step along the processing pipeline that prepares the 3D model for fabrication can now count on dozens of methods, that analyse and optimize geometry and machine instructions for various objectives. This report provides a classification of this huge state of the art, and elicits the relation between each single algorithm and a list of desirable objectives during model preparation – a process globally refereed to as Process Planning. The objectives themselves are listed and discussed, along with possible needs for tradeoffs. Additive Manufacturing technologies are broadly categorized to explicitly relate classes of devices and supported features. Finally, this report offers an analysis of the state of the art while discussing open and challenging problems from both an academic and an industrial perspective.