This can be done very easily in Meshmixer by using the “plane cut” function. I should note, the automation process does round the bottom surface of your design (even if it was originally flat) a little so its important to flatten things out for 3D printing. From there, all you need to do is find the “make pattern” option and select “dual edges” and click accept. A quick preview mode will allow you to make minor spacing and depth based modifications. After a few seconds of processing, you will have a 3D model complete with the Voronoi principles in place.

This gives your design a more organic look while reducing polygon count. To start, it's recommended that you deform the pattern a little with the “reduce brush”. Once the 3D model you're hoping to convert using voronoi principles is complete, the real magic happens after opening it in the recently released version 3.0 of Meshmixer. In this particular tutorial, the design is rounded and shelled to resemble the form of a lamp shade but you're welcome to test out the process with anything you want. When it comes to time investment, you’ll find most of your effort in creating the pattern revolves around designing the general shape of what you are hoping to transform into your parametric model. In fact, Adafruit has just recently put out the below easy to follow video tutorial that will guide you through the process of designing parametric 3D printable items based on the pattern. While doing so, there’s a good chance you'll have at some point stumbled upon a really cool organic looking design or two based on something called the Voronoi pattern.This is a pattern based on a partitioning of a plane into regions based on distance to to a specific subset of the plane.Īlthough complex in mathematical scope (and even difficult to put into words) the process of making your own parametric 3D printable design based on the Voronoi pattern is a relatively easy undertaking with the help of some readily available 3D modelling applications such as Autodesk Fusion 360 and the free to download Meshmixer.

Thingiverse is a website that just about anybody that’s into 3D printing will have at one point or another have explored.

Autodesk fusion 3d printing