Designated region projection printing of spatial pattern for 3D object on flat sheet in determined orientation
A system determines an object-design for a three-dimensional model of an object. The object-design may exhibit a design continuity. The system breaks the object-design in to spatial patterns corresponding to the discrete surfaces making up the outward surface of the object. The system then generates flattened patterns by projecting the spatial patterns into a two-dimensional plane. The system prints the flattened patterns on to designated regions of material sheets in an orientation that preserves the design continuity of the object-design. The regions may be extracted from the sheets and then joined at their edges to form a cover for object that exhibits the continuity of the object design.
1. A method comprising:
generating a three-dimensional model of an object;
generating a spatial pattern by mapping an object-design to a discrete surface of the three-dimensional model, the discrete surface comprising an edge;
generating a flattened pattern by projecting the spatial pattern into a two-dimensional plane;
responsive to mapping the spatial pattern, determining an orientation of the flattened pattern in reference to the edge;
designating a region on a material sheet for the discrete surface, the region bounded, at least in part, by the edge; and
printing the flattened pattern on the region of the material sheet in accord with the orientation.
2. The method of claim 1 , where the spatial pattern comprises a curved surface in three dimensions.
3. The method of claim 1 , where projecting the spatial pattern comprises applying a surface area preserving transform to a portion of the spatial pattern, applying a silhouette-type transform to a portion of the spatial pattern, or both.
4. The method of claim 1 , where the orientation of the flattened pattern preserves continuity of the object-design.
5. The method of claim 4 , where the continuity comprises an alignment continuity, an orientation continuity, or both.
6. The method of claim 1 , where printing the flattened pattern comprises printing an alignment marker.
7. The method of claim 1 , where designating the region comprises accounting for material to support joining the region to another region, material to support an alignment marker, or both.
8. The method of claim 1 , where designating the region comprises positioning the region in accord with a packing algorithm.
9. A method of manufacturing comprising;
obtaining a spatial pattern for a discrete surface of a three-dimensional object;
designating a region on a flat material sheet for the discrete surface;
generating a flattened pattern by projecting the spatial pattern on to the region in an orientation that maintains continuity of an object-design over multiple discrete surfaces of the object;
printing the flattened pattern on to the region in accord with the orientation.
10. The method of claim 9 , where the spatial pattern comprises a curved surface in three dimensions.
11. The method of claim 9 , where projecting the spatial pattern comprises applying a surface area preserving transform to a portion of the spatial pattern, applying a silhouette-type transform to a portion of the spatial pattern, or both.
12. The method of claim 9 , where the continuity comprises an alignment continuity, an orientation continuity, or both.
13. The method of claim 9 , where printing the flattened pattern comprises printing an alignment marker.
14. A system comprising:
model circuitry configured to:
obtain a spatial pattern for a discrete surface of a three-dimensional object;
generate a flattened pattern by projecting the spatial pattern on to a two-dimensional plane in an orientation that maintains continuity of an object-design over multiple discrete surfaces of the object;
print circuitry configured to:
designate a region for the discrete surface on a material sheet; and
print the flattened pattern on to the region in accord with the orientation.
15. The system of claim 14 , further comprising a design interface.
16. The system of claim 15 , where the design interface is configured to generate the object design responsive to design output from a third-party design package.
17. The system of claim 15 , where the design interface is configured to generate the object design responsive to user input comprising three-dimensional model manipulation commands, three-dimensional model editing commands, or both.
18. The system of claim 15 , where the design interface is configured to accept a manual positioning of the region on the material sheet.
19. The system of claim 14 , where the spatial pattern comprises a curved surface in three dimensions.
20. The system of claim 14 , where the model circuitry is configured to project the spatial pattern by applying a surface area preserving transform to a portion of the spatial pattern, applying a silhouette-type transform to a portion of the spatial pattern, or both.