Hyperform: the Future of 3D Printing

"However, while 3D printers are becoming increasingly accessible and capable of rivalling the quality of professional equipment, they are still inherently limited by a small print volume, placing severe constraints on the type and scale of objects we can create." Says designer Marcelo Coelho. With a very smart construction strategy in mind, Coelho developed together with designer and technologist Skylar Tibbits an algorithmic software named Hyperform.

The algorithm can transforms a needed form - possibly bigger than the printer’s measurement reach - into an origami-like chain structure, which can be unfolded into the bigger final product. Hyperform makes it possible to print bigger forms in a single piece, while the ordinary printers print different parts separately and assemblies them later. "Hyperform encodes assembly information into the actual parts, so there is no need for a separate assembly instruction sheet and parts don't need to be individually labeled and sorted" says Coelho.

Source: Core77