| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2023 Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF Symp 2023)
|
| Symposium
|
2023 Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF Symp 2023)
|
| Presentation Title |
OpenVCAD: An Open Source Volumetric Multi-material Geometry Compiler |
| Author(s) |
Charles Wade, Graham Williams, Robert MacCurdy |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Charles Wade |
| Abstract Scope |
Additive manufacturing has made significant advancements in multi-material fabrication techniques that allow for site-specific control of material deposition. With these advancements, design tools have fallen behind machine capabilities in accommodating volumetric information. Traditionally design and slicing workflows have expressed multi-material objects as several single-material bodies. The intense interest in compliant mechanisms and meta-materials demands a new design workflow that can support architecting material distribution throughout an object. To address these needs, we present OpenVCAD, an open-source volumetric design compiler with multi-material capabilities. OpenVCAD provides a scriptable suite of geometric and material design methods that enable efficient representation of complex objects with hundreds of materials. Through functional grading and convolutional blending, OpenVCAD allows for material distributions to be parameterized on spatial locations to yield complex multi-material distributions that would be impossible to describe using alternative workflows. We will demonstrate applications of OpenVCAD with additively manufactured meta-materials, compliant mechanisms, and 3D-electronics. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Definite: Post-meeting proceedings |