PDF] Freely orientable microstructures for designing deformable 3D prints

This work explores the synthesis and fabrication of novel microstructures that mimic the effects of having oriented rigid fibers in an otherwise flexible material: the result is extremely rigid along a transverse direction while being comparatively very flexible in the locally orthogonal plane. Nature offers a marvel of astonishing and rich deformation behaviors. Yet, most of the objects we fabricate are comparatively rather inexpressive, either rigid or exhibiting simple homogeneous deformations when interacted with. We explore the synthesis and fabrication of novel microstructures that mimic the effects of having oriented rigid fibers in an otherwise flexible material: the result is extremely rigid along a transverse direction while being comparatively very flexible in the locally orthogonal plane. By allowing free gradation of the rigidity direction orientation within the object, the microstructures can be designed such that, under deformation, distances along fibers in the volume are preserved while others freely change. Through a simple painting tool, this allows a designer to influence the way the volume reshapes when deformed, and results in a wide range of novel possibilities. Many gradations are possible: local free orientation of the fibers; local control of the overall material rigidity (structure density); local canceling of the effect of the fibers, obtaining a more isotropic material. Our algorithm to synthesize the structures builds upon procedural texturing. It produces a cellular geometry that can be fabricated reliably despite 3D printing walls at a minimal thickness, allowing prints to be very flexible. The synthesis algorithm is efficient and scales to large volumes.

Personal Fabrication Research HCI and Graphics

Freely orientable microstructures

PDF] Freely orientable microstructures for designing deformable 3D prints

Sylvain Lefebvre home page

3D printing colloidal crystal microstructures via sacrificial-scaffold-mediated two-photon lithography

Applied Sciences, Free Full-Text

Growth of oriented orthotropic structures with reaction/diffusion

A Post-Treatment of the Homogenization Method for Shape Optimization

Freely orientable microstructures for designing deformable 3D prints - Inria - Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique

MAXL: Distributed Trajectories for Modular Motion

Geometric construction of auxetic metamaterials - Bonneau - 2021 - Computer Graphics Forum - Wiley Online Library

Fractal Fract, Free Full-Text

Three-dimensional printing of freeform helical microstructures: a review - Nanoscale (RSC Publishing) DOI:10.1039/C4NR02041C