Image processing method and method of three-dimensional printing incorporating the same

摘要

A method for preparing image data for three-dimensional printing in which a digitized (e.g. voxelized) representation of a virtual three-dimensional object (e.g. CAD model) is eroded to create an internal volume for the object. Subsequently, a vector-based surface representation of this internal volume is generated and simply combined with a corresponding vector-based surface representation of the original virtual three-dimensional object to yield a hollowed out model in a format suitable for three-dimensional printing.;A microstructure may be introduced into the interior of the hollowed out model, e.g. by extracting a volume corresponding to the inverse of that microstructure from the eroded digitized representation.

主权项

1. A method of preparing a virtual three-dimensional object for three-dimensional printing, the method comprising:
obtaining a vector-based surface representation of the virtual three-dimensional object, wherein the vector-based surface representation comprises surfaces of the virtual three-dimensional object enclosing a volume; sampling the volume enclosed by the vector-based surface representation of the virtual three-dimensional object to generate a digitised three-dimensional representation of the virtual three-dimensional object; eroding the digitised three-dimensional representation of the virtual three-dimensional object to generate a digitised representation of an internal volume of the virtual three-dimensional object; generating a vector-based surface representation of the internal volume using the digitized representation of the internal volume of the virtual three-dimensional object, wherein the surfaces of the internal volume represent internal surfaces of the virtual three-dimensional object; combining the vector-based surface representation of the virtual three-dimensional object with the vector-based surface representation of the internal volume of the virtual three-dimensional object; and outputting the combined vector-based surface representation using an output device.