Solid identification grid engine for calculating support material volumes, and methods of use

A method for manipulating a digital part with a computer having one or more data storage devices for use in an additive manufacturing process, the method comprising:

• (a) providing a grid of cells for a tree data structure of a digital part on the one or more data storage devices, the cells being organized in cell arrays along a plurality of directional axes;
• (b) selecting a first directional axis of the plurality of directional axes with the computer;
• (c) for each cell array along the first directional axis, pinging the cells of the cell array with the computer until a cell containing a subset of the tree data structure is reached;
• (c) designating, with the computer, the reached cell and all remaining unpinged cells in the cell array as filled;
• (d) repeating the steps (c) and (d) for each cell array along the remaining directional axes of the plurality of directional axes to determine a total filled volume for each of the plurality of directional axes;
• (e) subtracting, with the computer, a volume of the digital part from the total filled volume for each of the plurality of directional axes to determine a support material volume for each of the plurality of directional axes;
• and
• (h) identifying, with the computer, the directional axis having the lowest determined support material volume.

A price quoting method for use with a computer having one or more data storage devices in an additive manufacturing process, the price quoting method comprising:

• providing a tree data structure for a digital part to be printed with the additive manufacturing process on the one or more data storage devices;
• generating a grid of cells for the tree data structure with the computer, wherein the cells of the grid define a plurality of cell arrays;
• for each cell array, pinging the cells with the computer until a cell containing a subset of the tree data structure is reached or until an end cell of the cell array is pinged;
• designating all pinged cells containing subsets of the tree data structure and all unpinged cells as filled with the computer;
• summing volumes of the designated filled cells with the computer to provide a total filled volume;
• subtracting a volume of the digital part from the total filled volume with the computer to determine a support material volume;
• and
• generating a price quote based at least in part on the determined support material volume.