Platener performs this in interactive speed, i.e., as the user is dragging the slider, Platener continuously updates the model. Moving the slider towards “speed” causes Platener to initially replace very large regions with individual laser-cut plates (Figure 4b) then more and more regions get replaced, resulting in increasingly higher speed-ups (Figure 4c). Speed-fidelity: Setting this slider all the way to “fidelity” (Figure 4a) produces an object that is all 3D printed, which trivially preserves fidelity, but obviously at the expense of having no speed-up. Platener allows users to specify these trade-off settings using a global slider. They were generated from the same 3D model, but with different fidelity-speed settings.įigure 3: Platener’s user interface provides users with a global slider to define the fidelity-speed trade-off.

Note that here fidelity refers not only to shape but also to other physical property such as appearance, structure, and material.Īs an example, Figure 3 shows three different versions of the head-mounted display. For an early design phase, for example, users may convert their models with speed in mind in later phases they may gradually shift the emphasis to fidelity. To best suit the needs of the current design phase, Platener allows users to convert 3D models under different settings. svg files.Īdapting the conversion to the current design phase Platener achieves a speed-up of 10 or more for 39.5% of all objects.įigure 2: Platener exports 3D printable parts and laser-cut parts as. To validate our system, we converted 2.250 3D models downloaded from a 3D model site (Thingiverse). Compared to other low-fab systems, such as faBrickator and WirePrint, Platener better preserves the stability and functionality of such objects: the resulting assemblies have fewer parts and the parts have the same size and thickness as in the 3D model. Platener is designed to best preserve the fidelity of functional objects, such as casings and mechanical tools, all of which contain a large percentage of straight/rectilinear elements. Platener allows users to customize substitution results by (1) specifying fidelity-speed tradeoffs, (2) choosing whether or not to convert curved surfaces to plates bent using heat, and (3) specifying the conversion of individual plates and joints interactively. To help fast assembly it engraves instructions. Platener connects the parts it has created by automatically inserting joints. Only the regions that are of relevance to the current design iteration are executed as full-detail 3D prints. Platener achieves its speed-up by extracting straight and curved plates from the 3D model and substituting them with laser cut parts of the same size and thickness. Platener is a system that allows quickly fabricating intermediate design iterations of 3D models, a process also known as low-fidelity fabrication.

Low-Fidelity Fabrication of 3D Objects by Substituting 3D Print with Laser-Cut Plates

Boom 3d fidelity setting