AESTHETIC HOUSING
A variety of techniques are disclosed for customizing a digital model of an aesthetic housing to receive a functional component and an interface component for the functional component.
1 . A method comprising:
receiving a selection of a three-dimensional aesthetic housing in a user interface;
receiving a selection of a functional component in the user interface;
identifying an interface component for the functional component;
automatically determining a position for the functional component in a digital model of the aesthetic housing;
automatically determining a second position for the interface component on an attachment point of the digital model of the aesthetic housing; and
modifying a three-dimensional shape of the digital model of the aesthetic housing to receive the functional component and the interface component, thereby providing a customized model.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising creating a kit including the functional component, the interface component, and a copy of the customized model stored on a computer readable medium.
3 . The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the customized model to a three-dimensional printer for fabrication.
4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the functional component includes an integrated circuit.
5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the functional component includes a printed circuit board.
6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the functional component includes a battery.
7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the interface component includes one or more of a button, a switch, a dial, a slider, a connector, a display, and a speaker.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the aesthetic housing includes two or more parts.
9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying the digital model to provide a path within the aesthetic housing to electrically couple the functional component to the interface component.
10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying the digital model to provide one or more mechanical attachment points to secure the functional component with one or more of a clip, a screw, and a bolt.
11 . The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying the digital model to provide one or more mechanical attachment points to secure the interface component with one or more of a clip, a screw, and a bolt.
12 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a manual adjustment of the position of the functional component to a new position in the user interface and conditionally updating the customized model with the new position if the new position satisfies one or more design rules.
13 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a manual adjustment of the second position of the interface component to a new position in the user interface and conditionally updating the customized model with the new position if the new position satisfies one or more design rules.
14 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a user-selected surface treatment for the aesthetic housing and including the user-selected surface treatment in the customized model.
15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the user-selected surface treatment includes one or more of a logo, text, and a picture.
16 . A method comprising:
receiving a selection of a three-dimensional aesthetic housing in a user interface;
receiving a selection of a functional component in the user interface;
identifying an interface component for the functional component;
automatically determining a position for the functional component in a digital model of the aesthetic housing;
automatically determining a second position for the interface component on a surface of the digital model of the aesthetic housing; and
modifying a three-dimensional shape of the digital model of the aesthetic housing to receive the functional component and the interface component, thereby providing a customized model.
17 . The method of claim 16 further comprising creating a kit including the functional component, the interface component, and a copy of the customized model stored on a computer readable medium.
18 . The method of claim 16 further comprising transmitting the customized model to a three-dimensional printer for fabrication.
19 . The method of claim 16 further comprising modifying the digital model to provide a path within the aesthetic housing to electrically couple the functional component to the interface component.
20 . The method of claim 16 further comprising receiving a user-selected surface treatment for the aesthetic housing and including the user-selected surface treatment in the customized model.
21 . A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the steps of:
receiving a selection of a three-dimensional aesthetic housing in a user interface;
receiving a selection of a functional component in the user interface;
identifying an interface component for the functional component;
automatically determining a position for the functional component in a digital model of the aesthetic housing;
automatically determining a second position for the interface component on an attachment point of the digital model of the aesthetic housing; and
modifying to three-dimensional shape of the digital model of the aesthetic housing to receive the functional component and the interface component, thereby providing a customized model.