Objective 3D Printed Surface Quality Assessment Based on Entropy of Depth Maps

Abstract

A rapid development and growing popularity of additive manufacturing technology leads to new challenging tasks allowing not only a reliable monitoring of the progress of the 3D printing process but also the quality of the printed objects. The automatic objective assessment of the surface quality of the 3D printed objects proposed in the paper, which is based on the analysis of depth maps, allows for determining the quality of surfaces during printing for the devices equipped with the built-in 3D scanners. In the case of detected low quality, some corrections can be made or the printing process may be aborted to save the filament, time and energy. The application of the entropy analysis of the 3D scans allows evaluating the surface regularity independently on the color of the filament in contrast to many other possible methods based on the analysis of visible light images. The results obtained using the proposed approach are encouraging and further combination of the proposed approach with camera-based methods might be possible as well.

Study of the Influence of Technological Parameters on Generating Flat Part with Cylindrical Features in 3D Printing with Resin Cured by Optical Processing

“…In both research and production, the quality obtained by the 3D printing process has an essential role in making parts or assemblies with the functional role [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. At the same time, the use of this technology allows us to reduce manufacturing costs [ 5 , 6 ], as well as the level of pollution [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. 3D printing is a relatively new technological process [ 11 , 12 ] that permits the generation of parts faster than other similar methods of fabrication.…”

Entropy in Image Analysis

“…In this Special Issue, research devoted to the study of the surface quality of 3D printed objects is highlighted. An application of this is proposed by Fastowicz et al [ 12 ]. The method is based on the analysis of the surface regularity during the printing process.…”

3D Printing of Oil Paintings Based on Material Jetting and Its Reduction of Staircase Effect

“…In addition, the objective evaluation of the color reproduction of 3D-printed parts can also be performed without contact using the mean structural similarity (MSSIM) metric of captured images of the sample surface [34]. Other image quality metrics are also explored for FDM-type 3D-printed models, such as Hough transform, histogram equalization, and entropy of depth maps [46,47]. The combined assessment of these objective metrics has also been discussed in the regular print sample and may provide a more comprehensive view of the 3D-printed oil painting reproduction [48].…”