Complex feature cloning in additive manufacturing datasets

A system for generating a manufacturing dataset having cloned geometric features for an additive manufacturing process comprising a processor configured to:

• identify a repeating design feature in a first manufacturing dataset that defines a three-dimensional workpiece;
• remove the repeating design features from the first manufacturing dataset;
• insert a placeholder for each instance of the removed repeating design features in the first manufacturing dataset;
• determine a processing benefit for cloning the repeating design feature;
• generate a second dataset having the repeating design feature isolated responsive to the determined processing benefit, wherein the second dataset includes only the repeating design feature in isolation;
• generate a third dataset from the first manufacturing dataset wherein, for each instance of the repeating design feature, the third dataset replaces the repeating design feature with a reference to the second dataset having the repeating design feature to reduce a size of the first manufacturing dataset, wherein the reference to the second dataset is inserted at the placeholder, wherein a size of the reference is smaller than a size of the repeating design feature from the first manufacturing dataset;
• and
• provide instructions to build the three-dimensional workpiece using the third dataset.

A computer program product for generating a manufacturing dataset having cloned geometric features for an additive manufacturing process, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

• identifying a repeating design feature in a first manufacturing dataset that defines a three-dimensional workpiece;
• removing the repeating design features from the first manufacturing dataset;
• inserting a placeholder for each instance of the removed repeating design features in the first manufacturing dataset;
• determining a processing benefit for cloning the repeating design feature;
• generating a second dataset having the repeating design feature isolated responsive to the determined processing benefit, wherein the second dataset includes only the repeating design feature in isolation;
• generating a third dataset from the first manufacturing dataset wherein, for each instance of the repeating design feature, the third dataset replaces the repeating design feature with a reference to the second dataset having the repeating design feature to reduce a size of the first manufacturing dataset, wherein the reference to the second dataset is inserted at the placeholder, wherein a size of the reference is smaller than a size of the repeating design feature from the first manufacturing dataset;
• and
• providing the program instructions to build the three-dimensional workpiece using the third dataset.