Search for: All records

Procedural modeling has produced amazing results, yet fundamental issues such as controllability and limited user guidance persist. We introduce a novel procedural system called PICO (Procedural Iterative Constrained Optimizer) using PICO-Graph, a procedural model designed with optimization in mind. PICO enables the exploration of generative designs by combining user and environmental constraints into a single framework and using optimization without the need to write procedural rules. The PICO-Graph is a data-flow procedural model consisting of a set of geometry-generating operation nodes. The forward generation is initiated by sending geometric objects from initial nodes. These objects travel through the graph, triggering generation of more objects along the way. We combine the PICO-Graph with evolutionary optimization that allows for exploration of the generated models and the generation of variants. The user defines the geometry-generating operations and the set of constraints; e.g, whether an existing object should be supported by the generated model, whether symmetries exist, etc. PICO then generates geometric models that fulfill the constraints through optimization, allowing interactive user control of constraints. We show PICO on a variety of examples, including generation of procedural chairs, generation of support structures for 3D printing, or generation of procedural terrains matching a given input. 

The microstructural optimization of porous lithium ion battery electrodes has traditionally been driven by experimental trial and error efforts, based on anecdotal understanding and intuition, leading to the development of useful but qualitative rules of thumb to guide the design of porous energy storage technology. In this paper, an advanced data-driven framework is presented wherein the effect of experimentally accessible microstructural parameters such as active particle morphology and spacial arrangement, underlying porosity, cell thickness, etc. , on the corresponding macroscopic power and energy density is systematically assessed. For the Li x C 6 | LMO chemistry, an analysis performed on 53 356 battery architectures reported in the literature revealed that for commercial microstructures based on oblate-shaped particles, lightly textured samples deliver higher power and energy density responses as compared to highly textured samples, which suffer from large polarization losses. In contrast, high aspect ratio prolate-shaped particles deliver the highest energy and power density, particularly in the limit of wire-like morphologies. Polyhedra-based colloidal microstructures demonstrate high area densities, and low tortuosities, but provide no appreciable power and energy density benefit over currently manufactured particle morphologies. The developed framework enables to establish general microstructure design guidelines and propose optimal electrode microstructures based on the intended application, given an anode and cathode chemistry.