Procedural Composite Material - Macro Foam

thingiverse

Macro Foam, a 3D printed material, showcases the accuracy of multiple materials to create a digital composite. It is controllable in density and compressibility after calibration. The material consists of solid, soft elastic, and empty space elements. The untested hypothesis states that it will be low-density and highly compressible until hard parts come into contact. Classical algorithms place seed points within the volume, creating spherical gradients and a voronoi diagram to generate a model with spheres (solid material) and connecting elements (soft material). This test uses STL files from Thingiverse; ideal printing involves Objet or soft PLA. The model is 22% solid, 16% soft, and 62% empty space due to large polygonal elements. High-res versions with finer features will be uploaded soon. This volumetric object explores the differences between polygonal and volume-based data structures for 3D printing. Learn more at 40westdesigns.com/blog/?p=371 and engineering.com/3DPrinting/3DPrintingArticles/ArticleID/4523/2012-The-Beginning-of-the-End-for-Polygons.aspx.