3D printing with custom surface reflectance
US9827719B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 19, 2015 |
| Grant date | Nov 28, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 16, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10T428/24355
- WIPO fieldOther special machines
- WIPO sectorMechanical engineering
Abstract
A method for fabricating custom surface reflectance and spatially-varying bi-directional reflectance distribution functions (BDRFs or svBRDFs). The 3D printing method optimizes micro-geometry to produce a normal distribution function (NDF) that can be printed on surfaces with a 3D printer. Particularly, the method involves optimizing the micro-geometry for a wide range of analytic NDFs and simulating the effective reflectance of the resulting surface. Using the results of the simulation, the appearance of an input svBRDF can be reproduced. To this end, the micro-geometry is optimized in a data-driven fashion and distributed on the surface of the printed object. The methods were demonstrated to allow 3D printing svBRDF on planar samples with current 3D printing technology even with a limited set of printing materials, and the described methods have been shown to be naturally extendable to printing svBRDF on arbitrary shapes or 3D objects.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.