Automatic determination and selection of build parameters for solid freeform ...

(54) AUTOMATIC DETERMINATION AND

SELECTION OF BUILD PARAMETERS FOR
SOLID FREEFORM FABRICATION
TECHNIQUES BASED ON AUTOMATIC
PART FEATURE RECOGNITION

(75) Inventors: Michelle D. Guertin, Salem, CT (US);

Chris R. Manners, Moorpark, CA (US)

(73) Assignee: 3D Systems, Inc., Valencia, CA (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 744 days.

(21) Appl. No.: 09/847,992

(22) Filed: May 3, 2001
Prior Publication Data

US 2002/0188369 Al Dec. 12, 2002

Int. C I. G06F 19/00

U.S. CI 703/6; 703/1; 703/2; 700/120;

700/119; 264/401; 264/40.1; 118/620 Field of Search 703/2, 1, 6; 700/98,

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FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS

WO WO 97/11837 4/1997

* cited by examiner

Primary Examiner—-W. D. Thomson

(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—-James E. Curry; Ralph

D'Alessandro

(57) ABSTRACT

A solid freeform fabrication method and apparatus for making objects in a layer by layer manner in which the objects have special geometrical features requiring specialized control parameters. The method and apparatus automatically determines and selects the build parameters for the build process based on automatic part feature recognition. A general build style is first determined having a plurality of default parameters for building the object. Data representing the object is imported and oriented with a Z-axis. The data is then processed by slicing software that automatically identifies special build types for specific ranges of Z-values and selects the alternative parameters needed to successfully build these features. Preferably a look-up table contains special sets of values for the parameters for each special build type possible in which the slicing algorithm can select from. During slicing, operator intervention is not needed to prepare all the parameters necessary for a successful build.

29 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets