Build direction-based partitioning for construction of a physical object through additive manufacturing

A system comprising:

• an access engine configured to access a surface mesh of a three-dimensional (3D) object and an initial build direction for construction of the 3D object through additive manufacturing;
• and
• a volumetric segmentation engine configured to:
• partition the surface mesh into an initial buildable segment and a non-buildable segment based on the initial build direction and according to differentiation between mesh faces of the surface mesh as overhang faces or non-overhang faces;
• correlate the initial build direction to the initial buildable segment;
• and
• iteratively, until no portion of the non-buildable segment remains:
• determine a subsequent build direction;
• partition off a subsequent buildable segment from the non-buildable segment based on the subsequent build direction;
• and
• correlate the subsequent build direction to the subsequent buildable segment;
• and
• provide the partitioned buildable segments and correlated build directions for construction of the 3D object through additive manufacturing.

A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising instructions, that when executed by a processor, causes a computing system to:

• access a surface mesh of a three-dimensional (3D) object and an initial build direction for construction of the 3D object through additive manufacturing;
• partition the surface mesh into an initial buildable segment and a non-buildable segment, including by:
• characterizing, based on the initial build direction, of mesh faces of the surface mesh as an overhang face or a non-overhang face;
• clustering of the mesh faces of the surface mesh according to the overhang face and non-overhang face characterizations;
• combining clusters including mesh faces with the non-overhang face characterization into the initial buildable segment;
• and
• combining clusters including mesh faces with the overhang face characterization into the non-buildable segment;
• and
• correlate the initial build direction to the initial buildable segment;
• perform iteratively, until no portion of the non-buildable segment remains:
• determine a subsequent build direction;
• partition off a subsequent buildable segment from the non-buildable segment based on the subsequent build direction;
• and
• correlate the subsequent build direction to the subsequent buildable segment;
• and
• provide the partitioned buildable segments and correlated build directions for construction of the 3D object through additive manufacturing.