Method of manufacturing at least a part of a sports article

A method of manufacturing at least a part of a sports article, comprising the steps:

• a. determining a set of physical parameters of the sports article, the set comprising a first group and a second group that is different from the first group, wherein the first group comprises (i) an indication of a type of three-dimensional lattice family selected from a plurality of types of three-dimensional lattice families, wherein the type of three-dimensional lattice family comprises an indication of a lattice structure of the part of the sports article with two or more intersecting lattice planes and (ii) an indication of a number of three-dimensional voxels into which a printable volume of the part of the sports article is divided, and wherein the first group of the set of physical parameters is used to define a set of constraints;
• b. determining the set of constraints for the first group of the physical parameters, wherein at least one objective function is achievable via the set of constraints;
• c. determining an optimum for the at least one objective function, wherein the optimum is determined by optimizing the second group of physical parameters, wherein the step of determining the optimum of the at least one objective function comprises a step of using an iterative process that estimates the optimal physical parameters of the second group by a set of successive function evaluations of the at least one objective function, wherein a first subset of the set of successive function evaluations is based on at least one heuristic that provides estimates for the function evaluations, wherein a second subset of the set of successive function evaluations is based on printability evaluations obtained by a finite element analysis, wherein the second subset of the set of successive function evaluations are performed after the first subset of successive function evaluations;
• d. creating a digital model by:
• providing a mesh structure comprising mesh cells;
• and
• deforming the mesh structure, such that an outer boundary conforms to a shape of the part of the sports article;
• and
• e. manufacturing the part of the sports article according to the set of constraints, the second group of optimal physical parameters, and the digital model.