Region determination device for slice model, three-dimensional printing system, and region determination method for slice model

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016288426-A1
Application number	US-201615084838-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 30, 2016
Priority date	Apr 1, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In a region determination device and method, when a set target contour is an island contour representing an outer profile of a three-dimensional printing object, it is determined whether a closest enclosing contour Lmin enclosing the target contour at a closest position thereto has been set for the slice model or not. When closest enclosing contour Lmin is determined to have been set, it is determined whether the closest enclosing contour Lmin is an island contour or not. When the closest enclosing contour Lmin is determined to be an island contour, the target contour is deleted from the slice model. Then, the region of the post-deletion slice model is divided into a printing region and a non-printing region.

First claim

1 . A region determination device for a slice model, the region determination device dividing a region of the slice model into a printing region to be printed and a non-printing region not to be printed, the slice model being obtained as a result of slicing a three-dimensional model of a three-dimensional printing object at a predetermined interval and being defined by contours representing profiles of the three-dimensional printing object, wherein the contours include an island contour representing a shape of an outer profile of the printing region of the three-dimensional printing object and a hole contour representing a shape of a hole in the three-dimensional printing object, the region determination device comprising:
a storage processor configured or programmed to store the slice model; a target contour setting processor configured or programmed to extract a predetermined contour from the contours of the slice model stored by the storage processor and set the extracted predetermined contour as a target contour; a first contour determination processor configured or programmed to determine whether the target contour set by the target contour setting processor is the island contour or not; a closest enclosing contour determination processor configured or programmed to, in a case in which the target contour is determined by the first contour determination processor to be the island contour, determine whether a closest enclosing contour enclosing the target contour at a closest position thereto has been set or not; a second contour determination processor configured or programmed to, in a case in which the closest enclosing contour is determined by the closest enclosing contour determination processor to have been set,
determine whether the closest enclosing contour is the island contour or not;
a deletion processor configured or programmed to, in a case in which the closest enclosing contour is determined by the second contour determination processor to be the island contour, deletes the target contour from the slice model and stores, on the storage processor, a slice model obtained as a result of deleting the target contour from the slice model; and
a region determination processor configured or programmed to divide the region of the slice model stored on the storage processor into the printing region and the non-printing region.

2 . The region determination device for a slice model according to claim 1 , wherein
the closest enclosing contour determination processor includes:
a scanning line setting processor configured or programmed to set a scanning line directed in a predetermined direction from a predetermined point on the target contour;
a count processor configured or programmed to count a number of intersection(s) at which the scanning line set by the scanning line setting processor and one of the contours of the slide model other than the target contour, cross each other;
a first enclosure determination processor configured or programmed to, in a case in which the number of the intersection(s) counted by the count processor is an odd number, determine that the one of the contours is located so as to enclose the target contour, and in a case in which number of the intersection(s) counted by the count processor is an even number, determine that the one of the contours is not located so as to enclose the target contour;
a distance calculation processor configured or programmed to, in a case in which the one of the contours is determined by the first enclosure determination processor to be located so as to enclose the target contour,
calculate a distance between the target contour and the one of the contours; and
a second enclosure determination processor configured or programmed to, in a case in which there are a plurality of the one of the contours determined by the first enclosure determination processor to be located so as to enclose the target contour, determine the one of the contours, corresponding to a shortest distance among the distances calculated by the distance calculation processor, to be the closest enclosing contour; wherein
the second contour determination processor is configured or programmed to determine whether the closest enclosing contour determined by the second enclosure determination processor is the island contour or not.

3 . The region determination device for a slice model according to claim 1 , further including an advancing direction setting processor configured or programmed to set an advancing direction of the island contour of the slice model stored by the storage processor to a first direction and set an advancing direction of the hole contour of the slice model to a second direction opposite to the first direction; wherein
the first contour determination processor is configured or programmed to, in a case in which the advancing direction of the target contour set by the target contour setting processor is the first direction set by the advancing direction setting processor, determine the target contour to be the island contour; and the second contour determination processor is configured or programmed to, in a case in which the advancing direction of the closest enclosing contour is the first direction set by the advancing direction setting processor, determine the closest enclosing contour to be the island contour.

4 . A three-dimensional printing system, comprising:
a three-dimensional printing device that prints a three-dimensional printing object; and the region determination device for a slice model according to claim 1 .

5 . A region determination method for a slice model,
the region determination method dividing a region of the slice model into a printing region to be printed and a non-printing region not to be printed, the slice model being obtained as a result of slicing a three-dimensional model of a three-dimensional printing object at a predetermined interval and being defined by contours representing profiles of the three-dimensional printing object, wherein the contours include an island contour representing a shape of an outer profile of the printing region of the three-dimensional printing object and a hole contour representing a shape of a hole in the three-dimensional printing object, the region determination method comprising: a storage step of storing the slice model; a target contour setting step of extracting a predetermined contour from the contours of the slice model stored in the storage step and setting the extracted predetermined contour as a target contour; a first contour determination step of determining whether the target contour set in the target contour setting step is the island contour or not; a closest enclosing contour determination step of, in a case in which the target contour is determined in the first contour determination step to be the island contour, determining whether a closest enclosing contour enclosing the target contour at a closest position thereto has been set or not; a second contour determination step of, in a case in which the closest enclosing contour is determined in the closest enclosing contour determination step to have been set, determining whether the closest enclosing contour is the island contour or not; a deletion step of, in a case in which the closest enclosing contour is determined in the second contour determination step to be the island contour, deleting the target contour from the slice model and storing a slice model obtained as a result of deleting the target contour from the slice model; and a region determination step of dividing the region of the slice model stored in the storage step or the deletion step into the printing region and the non-printing region.

6 . The region determination method for a slice model according to claim 5 , wherein
the close

Assignees

• Roland Dg Corp

Inventors

• Yoshida Makoto

Classifications

• B29C67/0088 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B33Y30/00 Primary

  Apparatus for additive manufacturing; Details thereof or accessories therefor · CPC title

• B29C67/0051

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• G05B19/4099 Primary

  Surface or curve machining, making three-dimensional [3D] objects, e.g. desktop manufacturing · CPC title

• G05B2219/35134

  3-D cad-cam · CPC title