Designing Software to Support Non-Expert Users in 4D Printing Complex Shapes

4D printing technologies further enhance the possibilities provided by 3D printing. However, designing for 4D printing requires a good understanding of material properties to successfully create objects with shape-changing capabilities. Moreover, the existing 3D printing and modelling software doesn’t offer functionalities to support 4D design. Even if using existing software with adaptations is possible, they are not conceptually built to deal with the material demands of 4D printing. This poster presents a simplified process to print objects with 4D properties, targeting novice users and 3D enthusiasts. Specifically, the proposed process abstracts the knowledge of how to manipulate the object for the desired shape-changing properties. This is done by extending the functionality of two main steps of the 3D printing process: modelling an object in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) software and preparing it for 3D printing in a slicer software. The former is handled by extending the open-source CAD Blender to provide a library of basic shapes with predetermined shape-changing patterns. The user can then use these pre-defined shapes to build complete objects to be printed. The second step is handled through an extension of the Cura slicer software which abstracts the required material knowledge, thus simplifying the user experience. Therefore, when sending the CAD design into the slicer, the program will automatically apply the correct settings to ensure that the shape-changing properties happen as determined in the previous step, the CAD modelling. By maintaining the principles of open-source software, we ensure that advanced users with material knowledge can program their own predefined shapes and thus extend the library of basic shapes.