Function representation based slicer for 3D printing

In this paper, we present a framework for a 3D printing slicer that is specially designed for function representation (F-rep) models. A direct slicing scheme for F-rep models is proposed, avoiding the expensive steps of generating intermediate triangle meshes, so the memory cost of our approach is low. Interval arithmetic provides an adaptive sampling mechanism, which is a key strategy to improve efficiency by reducing the sampling points. The marching squares algorithm and the bisection method ensure that the contour we extracted is function-faithful, which safeguards the accuracy and the topological correctness. The strategies of inner shells, sparse infill, internal ceiling supports and creating hollow models are also explored. The experimental results show significant advantages of the proposed directly slicing method over the conventional STL based method both in terms of time and memory consumption. The good performance of direct slicing of F-rep models supports the view that F-rep is more suitable than the traditional B-rep as a specified input geometry of 3D printing.