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US 2010/0168890 A1Published application
Three-Dimensional Data Extraction Using Ray Casting
AssigneeThe Ex One Company
InventorsJudith L. Fisher, Lawrence J. Voss
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AssigneeThe Ex One Company
InventorsJudith L. Fisher, Lawrence J. Voss
Estimating the term…
Methods are provided for solid free-form fabrication of an article without using a slice stack file. These apply ray casting a number of times to an electronic representation of the article to create data objects for use directly as printing instructions or which are convertible into printing instructions. The data objects may be utilized as they is generated or after they are created for a portion or all of the article. After utilization, the data objects may be discarded or stored for later use. Layer-specific layer thickness and other-direction resolution parameters may be input and utilized in selecting the number of rays to be cast, their origination points, and their directions, thus permitting controllable variation in detail precision in any direction. Error diffusion techniques may be used to improve fabricated part integrity. Improved intermachine portability is provided. Method, system, code, and media claims are included.
A method for producing an article layer-by-layer by a free-form fabrication machine from an electronic file representation of the article, the method comprising performing ray casting into said electronic file representation to determine at least one location to be printed by said free-form fabrication machine for fabricating said article.
A solid free-form fabrication system comprising:
A computer readable program code for producing an article layer-by-layer by a free-form fabrication machine from an electronic file representation of the article, said program code comprising instructions for performing ray casting into said electronic file representation to determine at least one location to be printed by said free-form fabrication machine for fabricating said article.
A computer readable medium comprising a program code for producing an article layer-by-layer by a free-form fabrication machine from an electronic file representation of the article, said program code including instructions for performing ray casting into said electronic file representation to determine at least one location to be printed by said free-form fabrication machine for fabricating said article.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.