[3D Printing News] 3D Shading: Grayscale Printing on Ultimaker 3

[3D Printing News] 3D Shading: Grayscale Printing on Ultimaker 3

Desktop 3D printing has fueled many rapidly growing industries, but until recently it was discovered that 3D printed objects were limited to monochrome.
At Ultimaker, we strive to push the limits of desktop 3D printing applications: in collaboration with Delft University of Technology,
One of our engineers has developed a technique for achieving grayscale printing using Ultimaker 3. This method allows users to print objects in two colors with different shades.

Linear halftone

Tim Kuipers has used a technique called linear halftone to generate 3D objects with full grayscale images. The principle of halftone is not a new concept; it actually dates back to the 17th century.
The result is shown in the image below:

Mellan's "The Sudarium" is hand-drawn using shading techniques.

In his co-authored research paper, Kuipers explains linear halftone as "creating the feeling of continuous tones by printing small patterns of discrete colors."

Based on the principles of shadow, linear halftone is created by using black and white lines of varying thicknesses to give the appearance of a grayscale image, when in reality the object is composed of simple black and white lines.

Using the dual nozzles of the Ultimaker 3, Kuipers is able to create objects with grayscale black and white lines.

He further explained, "The entire layer is printed with white or black lines, and the printer alternates between printing each layer of black and white lines. The grayscale tones are determined by highlighting more or less black lines to determine the position of the white lines, making the black stand out more, making the 3D print appear darker in that position, and making it brighter with white."

application

This grayscale printing technique has applications in several areas. In prototyping, linear halftone can be used as a feature in designing and developing conceptual models because it is not limited to printing using a discrete set of colors. Alternatively, for manufacturing, it can be used to print objects to convey technical details.
For example, it can be used to identify different vulnerable areas of a manufacturing tool by displaying various intensities of black.

Grayscale canned food grayscale rod
As a design feature, grayscale printing can accommodate more variations because it can be used to visualize technical information on printed objects, for example...
There is no restriction on printing to only two colors. And, which parts are more fragile than others.

There are also many other artistic applications: objects printed in grayscale can have enhanced depth, definition, and realism compared to monochrome printing.
Users who combine 3D scanning with 3D printing can create physical models of scanned people or objects.


Print a grayscale bust of Tim Kuipers. Large patches of similar color reveal the method's ability to achieve small, high-contrast details, which is particularly effective for sculpting and modeling.

Aside from precise X and Y axis calibration, the Ultimaker 3 used for the experiments required no hardware modifications to achieve these results. Grayscale printing also increased the time by a modest 20% compared to monochrome printing.

Full-color printing?

In the future, if two or more extruders are used to print dark blue, red, and yellow next to black and white lines, it may be possible to create full-color printing similar to 3D shading technology.
At Ultimaker , we plan to add halftone functionality directly to Cura so that users can input pre-colored files and create their own grayscale objects.


Article source: https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/49783-3d-hatching-grayscale-printing-on-the-ultimaker-3