irmf-slicer

README

IRMF Shader Slicer

Summary

IRMF is a file format used to describe GLSL ES shaders that define the materials in a 3D object with infinite resolution. IRMF completely eliminates the need for software slicers, STL, and G-code files used in 3D printers.

I believe that IRMF shaders will some day revolutionize the 3D-printing industry.

See github.com/gmlewis/irmf for more details.

LYGIA support

As of 2022-10-27, support has been added for using the LYGIA Shader Library at: https://lygia.xyz !

This means that you can add lines to your IRMF shaders like this:

#include "lygia/math/decimation.glsl"

and the source will be retrieved from the LYGIA server.

Congratulations and thanks go to Patricio Gonzalez Vivo for making the LYGIA server available for anyone to use, and also for the amazing tool glslViewer!

About the IRMF Shader Slicer

The technology stack used is Go and OpenGL.

This program is needed to bridge the gap until 3D printer manufacturers adopt IRMF shaders and printable file formats in addition to G-Code or voxel slices. It slices an IRMF shader model into either STL files or into voxel slices (with various output file formats). For STL files, it outputs one STL file per material. (Note that some STL files can become enormous, way larger than any online service bureau currently supports. The resolution can be reduced to limit the STL file sizes, but at the expense of lossed detail.)

For voxel slices, it can write them out to ZIP files (one ZIP file per material). These slices can then be fed to 3D printer software that accepts voxel slices as input for printing (such as NanoDLP).

For resin printers using either the ChiTuBox or AnyCubic slicer (such as the Elegoo Mars), the -dlp option will output the voxel slices to the .cbddlp file format (which is identical to the .photon file format).

Once 3D printers support IRMF shader model files directly for printing, however, this slicer will no longer be needed.

FAQ

How do I install it?

After you have a recent version of Go installed, run the following command in a terminal window:

$ go install github.com/gmlewis/irmf-slicer/v3/cmd/irmf-slicer

Then you might want to try it out on some of the example IRMF shaders located on GitHub.

To slice one or more .irmf files, just list them on the command line, like this:

$ irmf-slicer -view -stl examples/*/*.irmf

The output files will be saved in the same directory as the original input IRMF files.

How does it work?

This slicer dices up your model (the IRMF shader) into slices (planes) that are perpendicular (normal) to the Z (up) axis. The slices are very thin and when stacked together, represent your solid model.

Using the -zip option, the result is one ZIP file per model material with all the slices in the root of the ZIP so as to be compatible with NanoDLP. When using the -zip option, the resolution is set to X: 65, Y: 60, Z: 30 microns (unless the -res option is used to override this) in order to support the MCAST + Sylgard / 65 micron option of NanoDLP.

Using the -dlp option, the result is one .cbddlp file per model material that can be loaded into the ChiTuBox or AnyCubic slicer directly (.cbddlp is identical to the .photon file format).

Using the -stl option, the result is one STL file per model material.

Using the -binvox option, it will write one .binvox file per model material.

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License

Copyright 2019 Glenn M. Lewis. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.