Palette-PrintAR: augmented reality design and simulation for multicolor resin 3D printing

While 3D printing affords designers unprecedented geometrical complexity, fewer interactive design tools for multimaterial platforms exist. Recent work in resin 3D printing specifically promises fast, multicolor printing by growing fluidic channels concurrent with the object itself, infusing different resins spatioselectively into the vat; however, no design tools have been developed enabling users to interact with such novel personal fabrication machines in situ. Here, we introduce an augmented reality-based design tool allowing users to engage with this multicolor fabrication method so as to "paint" growing 3D objects. We define the design process and mode of user interaction with our tool, Palette-PrintAR, which integrates situated 3D model manipulation with real-time computational fluid dynamics simulation and computer vision-based tracking and analysis. We detail our 3D printer hardware add-on implementation and AR software architecture, along with characterizing the design flexibilities and limitations of our AR-based multicolor fabrication method.