Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
29th ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium (UIST), Tokyo, Japan, October 2016
Abstract
We demonstrate a new approach for designing functional material
definitions for multi-material fabrication using our system called Foundry.
Foundry provides an interactive and visual process for hierarchically
designing spatially-varying material properties (e.g.,
appearance, mechanical, optical). The resulting
meta-materials exhibit structure at the micro and macro level and
can surpass the qualities of traditional composites. The material
definitions are created by composing a set of operators into an
operator graph.
Each operator performs a volume decomposition operation,
remaps space, or constructs and assigns a material composition.
The operators are implemented using a domain-specific language for
multi-material fabrication; users can easily extend the
library by writing their own operators. Foundry can be used to
build operator graphs that describe complex, parameterized,
resolution-independent, and reusable material definitions.
We also describe how to stage the evaluation of the final material
definition which
in conjunction with progressive refinement, allows for
interactive material evaluation even for complex designs.
We show sophisticated and functional parts designed with our system.
A 3D print of a bone designed in Foundry. Left: intricate
hierarchical details of the osteons, bone marrow and spongy bone visible in
a cross-cut of the print. Right: the full 3D printed bone with the coin showed for scale.
The tweel mounted on a toddler tricycle.
Inset: a boundary representation of a helmet.
Left: a voxel rendering of the helmet, excluding the transparent outer shell.
Right: full printed model.
Bottom: zoom on the lattice structure under the shell, the retroreflective pattern, and the brain-like layer.
