Support Volume

Computes the material needed under a Solid's overhangs, down to the build plate. A downward-facing surface tilted less than Overhang angle from the plate cannot hold itself up and gets support beneath it. The result is a Solid you can subtract, add or measure; comparing its volume across orientations helps pick one. Builds along world +Z only.

Inputs

Solid Solid

The Solid to support.

Takes: any block that gives Solid (102 blocks)
Build plane Plane or Solid

The plate, facing world +Z. When unset, the Solid's own lowest point is the plate. A plane block's half-space output works too.

Takes: any block that gives Plane (102 blocks)
Feature size Number

Voxel size in mm: the smallest detail the support follows. Smaller is finer and slower; a size too fine for the part is refused with a message.

Overhang angle Number

Downward-facing surfaces tilted less than this from the plate get support, in degrees. 45° is the common limit; 0 supports nothing and 90 supports every downward-facing surface.

Min overhang angle Number

Surfaces tilted less than this from the plate (nearly flat) are left without support, in degrees, e.g. when they are bridged anyway. 0 turns this off.

Support region Choice

Which support to keep. Outside: support reachable from outside, which can be removed after printing. Inside: support sealed in a cavity, which cannot; handy for finding where a part traps material. All: both.

Output

Solid

Used by: any block that takes Solid (95 blocks)

Properties

Values the block gives besides its output. The editor lists them under Properties, and an input can read one by reference.

BoundingBox Bounding Box

The axis-aligned extent of the Solid.

ScalarField Number

The Solid's signed distance, as a field.

Inverted Solid

The Solid turned inside out: what was inside is now outside.

What implicit modeling is

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