SUPPORT ARRANGEMENT DETERMINING APPARATUS, THREE-DIMENSIONAL PRINTING SYSTEM, AND METHOD OF DETERMINING SUPPORT ARRANGEMENT

摘要

An arrangement determining apparatus includes a center-of-gravity calculating processor that calculates a center of gravity of a three-dimensional model, a placement surface determining processor that determines a placement surface to attach and arranging supports thereon, a reference point setting processor that draws a perpendicular line from the center of gravity toward the placement surface and sets a reference point, a region dividing processor that divides the placement surface into a first region and a second region excluding the first region, and an arranging processor that attaches and arranges the supports on the placement surface so that the contact area per unit area between the first region and the supports in the first region is larger than the contact area per unit area between the second region and the supports in the second region.

主权项

1. A support arrangement determining apparatus for determining a position arrangement of supports, for use with a three-dimensional printing apparatus wherein the supports are attached and arranged on a target object to be formed to form the target object and the supports, the arrangement determining apparatus comprising:
a storing processor configured or programmed to store data of a three-dimensional model of the target object; a center-of-gravity calculating processor configured or programmed to calculate a center of gravity of the three-dimensional model stored in the storing processor; a placement surface determining processor configured or programmed to determine a placement surface of the three-dimensional model on which the supports are attached and arranged; a reference point setting processor configured or programmed to draw a perpendicular line from the center of gravity calculated by the center-of-gravity calculating processor toward the placement surface determined by the placement surface determining processor, and set a reference point at which the perpendicular line and the placement surface intersect; a region dividing processor configured or programmed to divide the placement surface determined by the placement surface determining processor into a first region and a second region, the first region being within a predetermined area containing the reference point set by the reference point setting processor, and the second region excluding the first region; and an arranging processor configured or programmed to attach and arrange the supports on the placement surface so that, in the first region and the second region divided by the region dividing processor, a contact area per unit area between the first region and the supports attached and arranged in the first region is larger than a contact area per unit area between the second region and the supports attached and arranged in the second region.