langbein.org: Generating Smooth Parting Lines for Mold Design for Meshes

Contents

W. Li, R. R. Martin, F. C. Langbein

In: Proc. ACM Symp. Solid and Physical Modeling, pp. 193-204, ACM Siggraph 2007.
ISBN 1595936660.

[DOI: 10.1145/1236246.1236274] [Preprint] [CiteSeer]

This paper considers the mold design problem of computing a parting line for a complex mesh model, given a parting direction. Existing parting line algorithms are unsuitable for this case, as local variations in the orientations of the facets of such models lead to a parting line which zig-zags across the surface in an undesirable way. This paper presents a method to compute a smooth parting line which runs through a triangle band composed of triangles whose normals are approximately perpendicular to the parting direction. The skeleton of the triangle band is used to generate a structure representing distinct topological cycles, and to decompose the triangle band into singly-connected surface pieces, giving candidate paths. We choose a set of paths giving a good cycle; the final smooth parting line is then constructed by iteratively improving the quality of this cycle. Compliance in the physical material, or minor modifications to the surface itself, will ensure that such a parting line is appropriate for use.

@INPROCEEDINGS{Li2007a,
  author =       {Weishi Li and Ralph R. Martin and Frank C. Langbein},
  title =        {Generating Smooth Parting Lines for Mold Design for
                  Meshes},
  booktitle =    {Proc. ACM Symp. Solid and Physical Modeling},
  year =         2007,
  pages =        {193-204},
  address =      {New York, NY, USA},
  publisher =    {ACM Siggraph},
  isbn =         1595936660,
  doi =          {10.1145/1236246.1236274},
  url =          {http://www.langbein.org/research/curves/smoothing/li2007a/},
  abstract =     {This paper considers the mold design problem of
                  computing a parting line for a complex mesh model,
                  given a parting direction. Existing parting line
                  algorithms are unsuitable for this case, as local
                  variations in the orientations of the facets of such
                  models lead to a parting line which zig-zags across
                  the surface in an undesirable way. This paper
                  presents a method to compute a smooth parting line
                  which runs through a triangle band composed of
                  triangles whose normals are approximately
                  perpendicular to the parting direction. The skeleton
                  of the triangle band is used to generate a structure
                  representing distinct topological cycles, and to
                  decompose the triangle band into singly-connected
                  surface pieces, giving candidate paths. We choose a
                  set of paths giving a good cycle; the final smooth
                  parting line is then constructed by iteratively
                  improving the quality of this cycle. Compliance in
                  the physical material, or minor modifications to the
                  surface itself, will ensure that such a parting line
                  is appropriate for use.},
}

Cite as Generating Smooth Parting Lines for Mold Design for Meshes, http://www.langbein.org/research/manifolds/smoothing/li2007a by Frank C Langbein [ 6/December/2008, 19:30].

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