Constrained Stacking in DLP 3D Printing

Abstract Using stacked models for 3D printing could significantly improve printing efficiency and save printing time. For standard 3D printing techniques like Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) or Digital Light Processing (DLP), support structures are required for overhanging areas, even between the stacked models. However, there are requirements from medical applications like 3D printed dental implant guides, that support structures are not allowed to be placed on some restricted regions to maintain models’ appearance quality and accuracy. This paper introduces a constrained multi-level stacking scheme for DLP 3D printers, aiming to stack as many models as possible in the printing space; meanwhile, no support is placed on the restricted regions. We rotate each stacked model along the axis and calculate the feasible pose set that restricted regions have no overhanging surface. We further propose a level-based scaffold structure to arrange the stacked models level by level. Therefore, support structures could be generated on the scaffold, and the stacked model does not need to support each other. We employ a heuristic strategy for each level to iteratively select a candidate model and its posture to achieve a locally optimal arrangement. We then introduce perturbations in the arrangement order, using a hill-climbing method to approximate the most volume-efficient arrangement.