June 24th, 2024

Determine mesh rotations to minimise overhangs for 3D printing

The Mesh Tumbler tool on GitHub optimizes mesh rotations for 3D printing by reducing overhangs. It uses normal projections and Bayesian Gaussian process optimization. Users can adjust parameters for customization.

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Determine mesh rotations to minimise overhangs for 3D printing

The GitHub URL contains information about "Mesh Tumbler," a tool designed for optimizing mesh rotations to reduce overhangs in 3D printing. The tool utilizes normal projections in the -z direction to identify unsupported overhangs above a specified threshold, rotating the mesh to minimize these overhangs through Bayesian Gaussian process optimization. Users can install Mesh Tumbler from the GitHub repository using provided commands and input an STL file path to analyze. The tool outputs rotations around the `[x, y, z]` axes and the optimized function value. Additional parameters like the number of function calls, pitch of the voxelized mesh, and maximum overhang angle can be adjusted for further optimization. For more detailed instructions on utilizing Mesh Tumbler, users can refer to the GitHub repository.

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By @amelius - 7 months
Very nice, but often minimum overhang is not the only constraint. Sometimes you want to take (directional) strength into account. And sometimes it simply looks better if an object is sliced in a certain way.
By @JofArnold - 7 months
Great stuff, but working with STLs isn't a good option for me. Doing this in STEP would be amazing. But I suppose I could use STL to guide me on orientations I can then set up manually with my STEP files?