Interactive fabrication aims to close the gap between design and fabrication, allowing for rich interactions with materials and reflection in action. Drawing from craft practice, we contribute software that enables real-time control of digital fabrication machines from a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) environment. Our software not only allows interactive control of toolpath geometry, but also enables the control of machine parameters such as speed, acceleration, or jerk. This creates new opportunities for toolpath and material exploration. We evaluate our software with a professional glass artist on a custom digital fabrication machine that can accommodate multiple tools such as brushes, engraving bits, or microscopes. Finally, we reflect on implications for machine control.
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CoilCAM: Enabling Parametric Design for Clay 3D Printing Through an Action-Oriented Toolpath Programming System
Clay 3D printing provides the benefits of digital fabrication automation and reconfigurability through a method that evokes manual clay coiling. Existing design technologies for clay 3D printing reflect the general 3D printing workflow in which solid forms are designed in CAD and then converted into a toolpath. In contrast, in hand-coiling, form is determined by the actions taken by the artist’s hands through space in response to the material. We theorized that an action-oriented approach for clay 3D printing could allow creators to design digital fabrication toolpaths that reflect clay material properties. We present CoilCAM, a domain-specific CAM programming system that supports the integrated generation of parametric forms and surface textures through mathematically defined toolpath operations. We developed CoilCAM in collaboration with ceramics professionals and evaluated CoilCAM’s relevance to manual ceramics by reinterpreting hand-made ceramic vessels. This process revealed the importance of iterative variation and embodied experience in action-oriented workflows.
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- PAR ID:
- 10466841
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9781450394215
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 16
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Hamburg Germany
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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