Instantly Modify 3D Models

MIT’s new Web-based software makes it easier to modify 3D models for printing by reducing CAD geometry calculations to just minutes. The solution turns CAD files into visual models that users can modify in real time by moving sliders on a Web page.

“We envision a world where everything you buy can potentially be customized, and technologies such as 3D printing promise that that might be cost-effective,” said Masha Shugrina, an MIT graduate student in computer science and engineering and one of the new system’s designers. “So the question we set out to answer was, ‘How do you actually allow people to modify digital designs in a way that keeps them functional?’”

The solution was developed by MIT and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC Herzliya) in Israel. The Web-based Fab Forms is a cloud platform that allows users to modify CAD design parameters and see a visualization of the model instantly. The software automatically removes parameter values that are unfeasible so that users can only alter the sliders in the software within workable limits.

The solution leverages distributed cloud servers to quickly calculate geometries and run simulations. Fab Forms is a faster alternative to changing numerical values in the CAD model, recalculating the geometry, and then running simulations to test for stability and integrity. Even novice users can alter designs successfully in Fab Forms without affecting print quality, the researchers said.

The researchers presented their work on Fab Forms at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Siggraph conference in August.

Autodesk has already expressed interest in working with MIT on the solution as part of its similar Project Shapeshifter initiative.

“Autodesk has simplified versions of this project,” said Ryan Schmidt, a senior principal research scientist and head of the Design and Fabrication Group at Autodesk Research in MIT News. “We have a thing called Project Shapeshifter that is very similar to what a lot of other people are doing right now, which is making these geometry generators that have a parametric model you can explore. But they all have this common problem: that you can very easily make something that won’t work on your printer. What I thought was super-exciting about this work is that it can prevent you from designing something that isn’t going to print or that isn’t going to be strong enough once you’ve printed it.”

Source: International Business Times