A preview system for 3D printing

Three Dimensional (3D) printing technologies fabricate objects layer by layer. Complex parts, which are difficult to produce by using subtractive manufacture methods, can be created by using these technologies. In a 3D printing process, the digital geometrical description of the target model has to be converted into machine codes to direct the printer to manufacture the model. Since the machine codes are hard to comprehend, the shape, correctness, and accuracy of the printed model cannot be known to the users beforehand. In this article, a simulation program is presented to virtually emulate 3D printing to prevent errors and to preview printed results. In a simulation, the simulator fetches the machine codes from a disk file into the main memory and examines the machine codes line by line to detect syntax and semantic errors. Then, the simulator virtually manufactures the target model in a volume space. Since the virtual model is comprised of voxels, it resembles the target object better than conventional line-based models. As the virtual manufacture has completed, volume rendering and other graphics techniques are utilized to explore the exterior appearance as well as the interior structures of the virtual model. Thus, our simulation program reveals more details than conventional 3D printing simulators, and the fidelity and capability of the simulation are enhanced.