Designated region projection printing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing printing technologies face challenges in maintaining design continuity across edges and minimizing material waste when creating custom covers for three-dimensional objects, particularly with irregular shapes and curved surfaces, leading to aesthetically undesirable outcomes and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A system that projects spatial patterns from three-dimensional models into two-dimensional flattened patterns, maintaining alignment and orientation continuity, and uses a packing algorithm to minimize material waste by designating regions on material sheets without regard to the final pattern, allowing for efficient printing and reduced waste.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional printing methods are used on material sheets for three-dimensional objects, then material waste is reduced through simple printing processes, but design continuity across edges and seams is lost resulting in aesthetically undesirable outcomes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the material sheet into multiple designated regions corresponding to different faces of the three-dimensional object. Each region is independently optimized for printing while maintaining overall design continuity through coordinated positioning and alignment across region boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional two-dimensional printing to three-dimensional-aware printing by considering the spatial relationships between different faces of the object. The system projects designs from 3D models onto 2D material sheets while maintaining continuity across folded or joined edges, effectively adding a third dimension to the printing process.
2Manufacturing precision
If custom printing is performed on each material sheet without coordinated region designation, then printing flexibility is increased, but design alignment and orientation continuity across edges cannot be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary designation of regions on the material sheet before the actual printing process. This pre-planning step establishes the spatial relationships, orientations, and alignments between different printing regions, ensuring continuity across edges while maintaining printing flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameters of the printing system by introducing coordinated region designation that accounts for three-dimensional spatial relationships. The system adjusts printing parameters such as orientation, position, and scaling based on the designated regions to maintain alignment continuity across edges.
3Loss of substance
If material sheets are printed without region designation algorithms, then printing process is simpler and faster, but material waste increases due to inefficient layout and inability to optimize for final three-dimensional configuration
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary region designation and layout optimization before printing, arranging multiple designated regions efficiently on the material sheet. This pre-planning minimizes material waste by optimizing the use of available sheet area while maintaining the ability to produce custom designs.
Solution Approach 2:
The region designation algorithm serves multiple functions: it optimizes material utilization, maintains design continuity, ensures proper alignment across edges, and accommodates various three-dimensional object shapes. This multi-functionality achieves waste reduction without significantly compromising printing efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A system determines an object-design for a three-dimensional model of an object. The object-design may exhibit a design continuity. The system breaks the object-design in to spatial patterns corresponding to the discrete surfaces making up the outward surface of the object. The system then generates flattened patterns by projecting the spatial patterns into a two-dimensional plane. The system prints the flattened patterns on to designated regions of material sheets in an orientation that preserves the design continuity of the object-design. The regions may be extracted from the sheets and then joined at their edges to form a cover for object that exhibits the continuity of the object design.