Direct 3D printing of multi-level voxel models

Abstract

We present a direct method for the additive manufacturing of multi-level voxelized models that achieves a better surface finish. We have developed a new multi-level marching squares algorithm to identify the boundary of the multi-level voxelized model. We have also developed methods to use the multi-level voxelization to perform the infill operation based on user-defined infill density. We directly generate the GCode that is input into the 3D printer for printing. Our method overcomes the issues associated with the slicing operation for standard CAD models. In addition, we can directly print thresholded voxel models that are output from CT or MRI scans to get a physical 3D representation of medical data. We show that our method performs well by directly printing test models of multi-level voxel representation of complex CAD geometries, and cardiac CT data.