Triangular prism generation algorithm for polyhedron decomposition

Abstract

RP(Rapid Prototyping) is often called as Layered Manufacturing because of layer by layer building strategy. Layer building strategy is classified into two methodologies. One is based on the 2D layer and the other is based on the 3D layer. 2D layer is simply created by the intersection between the polyhedron and a slicing plane whereas 3D layer is created with some constraints such as cuttability and manufacturability. Currently, 3D Layer is generated by using the boundary surface information in the native solid modeling format. However, most input data in Rapid Prototyping is the polyhedral surface data. We propose a geometric algorithm that uses the triangular prism to create 3D layers. Examples are shown to show the validity. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.