Near support-free multi-directional 3D printing via global-optimal decomposition

In 3D printing, it is critical to use as few as possible supporting materials for efficiency and material saving. Multiple model decomposition methods and multi-DOF (degrees of freedom) 3D printers have been developed to address this issue. However, most systems utilize model decomposition and multi-DOF independently. Only a few existing approaches combine the two, i.e. partitioning the models for multi-DOF printing. In this paper, we present a novel model decomposition method for multi-directional 3D printing, allowing consistent printing with the least cost of supporting materials. Our method is based on a global optimization that minimizes the surface area to be supported for a 3D model. The printing sequence is determined inherently by minimizing a single global objective function. Experiments on various complex 3D models using a five-DOF 3D printer have demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach.