Computer aided generative design with layer boundary determination to facilitate 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing processes

A system comprising:

• a non-transitory storage medium having instructions of a computer aided design program stored thereon;
• and
• one or more data processing apparatus configured to run the instructions of the computer aided design program to cause the one or more data processing apparatus to
• obtain one or more design criteria for a modeled object, for which a corresponding physical structure is to be manufactured using a 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process,
• iteratively modify a three-dimensional shape of the modeled object in accordance with the one or more design criteria,
• define layer boundaries between three or more discrete layers for the three-dimensional shape based on differences among multiple milling depths identified for respective milling lines in a density-based representation of the three-dimensional shape, wherein each of the milling lines is parallel to a milling direction of the 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process and comprises a subset of individual elements in the density-based representation of the three-dimensional shape of the modeled object, each of the three or more discrete layers is perpendicular to the milling direction of the 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process, wherein the one or more data processing apparatus define the layer boundaries by being configured to run the instructions of the computer aided design program to cause at least adjusting the density-based representation of the three-dimensional shape to reassign milling depths for at least a portion of the milling lines by changing density values of individual elements located in the at least a portion of the milling lines such that a single milling depth is produced for each of the layer boundaries between the three or more discrete layers for the three-dimensional shape, thereby changing the three-dimensional shape of the modeled object, and
• provide the three-dimensional shape of the modeled object for use in manufacturing a physical structure corresponding to the modeled object using one or more computer-controlled manufacturing systems that employ the 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium tangibly encoding a computer program operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining one or more design criteria for a modeled object, for which a corresponding physical structure is to be manufactured using a 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process;
• iteratively modifying a three-dimensional shape of the modeled object in accordance with the one or more design criteria;
• defining layer boundaries between three or more discrete layers for the three-dimensional shape based on differences among multiple milling depths identified for respective milling lines in a density-based representation of the three-dimensional shape, wherein each of the milling lines is parallel to a milling direction of the 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process and comprises a subset of individual elements in the density-based representation of the three-dimensional shape of the modeled object, each of the three or more discrete layers is perpendicular to the milling direction of the 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process, and the defining comprises adjusting the density-based representation of the three-dimensional shape to reassign milling depths for at least a portion of the milling lines by changing density values of individual elements located in the at least a portion of the milling lines such that a single milling depth is produced for each of the layer boundaries between the three or more discrete layers for the three-dimensional shape, thereby changing the three-dimensional shape of the modeled object;
• and
• providing the three-dimensional shape of the modeled object for use in manufacturing a physical structure corresponding to the modeled object using one or more computer-controlled manufacturing systems that employ the 2.5-axis subtractive manufacturing process.