Automatic Generation of a Pattern of Geometric Features for Industrial Design

Abstract

This paper presents a new computational method for the automatic generation of geometric feature patterns for industrial design. Such patterns include speaker holes, showerhead holes, and bumpy textures on a grip, and they play a key role in making a designed object aesthetically pleasing and functional. While modern CAD packages support the automated creation of basic patterns, rectangular grids, and radial grids, they are not applicable to more general cases required in industrial design, including arbitrarily shaped target geometry and graded feature sizes. The proposed computational method takes as input a target region along with sizing metrics and generates feature patterns automatically in three steps: (1) packing circles tightly in the target region, (2) scaling features according to the specified sizing metrics, and (3) adding features on the base geometry. The proposed method is installed as a plugin module to a commercial CAD package, and a pattern of hundreds of features can be added to a 3D CAD model in less than 5 min. This allows the industrial designer to explore more design alternatives by avoiding the tedious and time-consuming manual generation of patterns.