Adaptive slicing using stepwise uniform refinement

Presents a new adaptive slicing method for layered manufacturing. The CAD model is first sliced uniformly into slabs of thickness equal to the maximum available fabrication thickness. Each slab is then resliced uniformly as needed to maintain the desired surface accuracy. This approach improves on past work by determining the adaptive refinement through interpolation rather than extrapolation, and it is well suited for execution in a parallel processing computer. The method has been implemented successfully and tested with STL CAD models on a Stratasys FDM 1600 rapid prototyping system, where typical measured build times were reduced by approximately 50 per cent without reducing overall surface accuracy.