A multi-material virtual prototyping system

This paper proposes a multi-material virtual prototyping system for digital fabrication of heterogeneous prototypes. It consists mainly of a topological hierarchy-sorting algorithm for processing slice contours, and a virtual simulation system for visualisation and optimisation of multi-material layered manufacturing (MMLM) processes. The topological hierarchy-sorting algorithm processes the hierarchy relationship of complex slice contours. It builds a parent-and-child list that defines the containment relationship of the slice contours, and subsequently arranges the contours in an appropriate sequence, which facilitates toolpath planning for MMLM by avoiding redundant tool movements. The virtual simulation system simulates MMLM processes and provides stereoscopic visualisation of the resulting multi-material prototypes for quality analysis and optimisation of the processes. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.