Controllable Shape Synthesis for Digital Fabrication

Abstract

The main goal of this thesis is to propose methods to synthesize shapes in a controllable manner, with the purpose of being fabricated. As 3D printers grow more accessible than ever, modeling software must now take into account fabrication constraints posed by additive manufacturing technologies. Consequently, efficient algorithms need to be devised to model the complex shapes that can be created through 3D printing. We develop algorithms for by-example shape synthesis that consider the physical behavior of the structure to fabricate. All the contributions of this thesis focus on the problem of generating complex shapes that follow geometric constraints and structural objectives.

In a first time, we focus on dealing with fabrication constraints, and propose a method for synthesizing efficient support structures that are well-suited for filament printers. In a second time, we take into account appearance control, and develop new by-example synthesis methods that mixes in a meaningful manner criteria on the appearance of the synthesized shapes, and constraints on their mechanical behavior. Finally, we present a highly scalable method to control the elastic properties of printed structures. We draw inspiration from procedural texture synthesis methods, and propose an efficient algorithm to synthesize printable microstructures with controlled elastic properties