Scaffolder

Transform a 3D model from STL/PLY/OFF/OBJ to a porous model with implicit function (e.g., Schwarz P/ Gyroid).

Documentation	Command line options	Python API	Example: TPMS with Python

Binary installation

• Download from Github Releases page
• Binary bundle consists of
  • Main program: Scaffolder
  • Pore analysis program: Scaffold.SliceTest
  • Python library: PyScaffold*.pyd

Note

If you need only python library, you can install it from pip (see below).

Python supports

pip install PyScaffolder

Note

v1.5.4 support only Python >=3.11 on Windows (ARM64), Linux (x86_64/aarch64), and MacOS (arm64/x86_64)

Binary building

To build the binary executables, make sure you have installed the following softwares:

• Visual Studio >=2022 (Windows)
• GNU and Cmake (linux)

  sudo apt install cmake
  sudo apt install build-essential libgomp -y

• Apple clang (MacOS)

  brew install libomp

Steps

• Download or clone the source code from github
• Change current directory to the source code folder
• Create build folder using CMAKE

cmake -E make_directory ./build
cmake -B ./build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=<path to install>
cmake --build ./build --config Release
cmake --install ./build

Blender addon (obsoleted)

• Install the Scaffolder-blender.zip downloaded from Release
• The plugin will appear at View > Sidebar or Press N
• Screenshots: Blender plugin with PyScaffolder

• The figure of patterns implemented in this program

• The examples of generated porous scaffold

Dependencies

• libigl - The computational geometry library
• vcglib - The mesh utility library
• sol2 - Lua script integration
• tbb - Threading library (Migrated to OpenMP since v1.5.4)

License

The source code of Scaffolder is licensed under the MIT License. However, the pre-compiled binaries and wheels distributed on PyPI statically link vcglib and libigl, which are licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 (GPL-3.0). Consequently, the distributed PyPI wheels and pre-compiled binaries are subject to the terms of the GPL-3.0.

How it works

• Read STL file and find the boundary box of STL mesh
• Generate the grid and calculate the winding number with STL mesh
• Use winding number to determine the condition for implicit isosurface function
• Generate the isosurface field in the grid
• Perform Dual marching cube to construct the manifold
• Clean up the duplicated vertices or faces, and abandon the group of connected faces having the diameter below the setting
• Export to the target 3D format

FAQ

How can I find the dataset from the paper?

The raw dataset is available at Mendeley Data. The program that used to generate that data was released at Github repository. You can also find the interactive visualization at Google Colab

Where are the implicit functions defined in the C++ source code?

https://github.com/nodtem66/Scaffolder/blob/master/include/implicit_function.h

Alternative softwares like this program?

• F13LD Fully Implicit Engine for Lattice Design
• Cesogen (There you can find a curated list of the other software)
• TPMS2STEP
• LattGen
• Rhino (Grasshopper) (Commerical software)
• nTopology (Commerical software)
• Hyperganic (Commerical software)

References

• Minimal surface Blog
• Dual marching cube - dualmc
• Command line parser - cxxopts
• Progress bar - ProgressBar

Citation

Computational method and program for generating a porous scaffold based on implicit surfaces

@article{IAMSAMANG2021106088,
title = {Computational method and program for generating a porous scaffold based on implicit surfaces},
journal = {Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine},
volume = {205},
pages = {106088},
year = {2021},
issn = {0169-2607},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmpb.2021.106088},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169260721001632},
author = {Jirawat Iamsamang and Phornphop Naiyanetr},
keywords = {Triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS), Implicit surface, Porous scaffold, Pore size, Porosity}
}