#SOFTWARE – Monolith : a voxel-based modeling engine for multimaterial 3d printing

From monolith.zone

What’s a voxel?  Well, think of it like a three-dimensional pixel.  In fact, the word voxel is short for volumetric pixel.  Much like a pixel, which describes the attributes (like color) of an element within a larger composition (an image); a voxel can describe attributes about a physical location within a 3D volume.  These attributes can include information about its material properties, density, color, and more.

Now, most if not all, currently available 3D CAD applications are simply unable to manage spatial variations in material properties. That’s because most design applications have been built upon a surface modeling paradigm where a ‘solid’ object is defined as an object enclosed by a set of discrete boundaries. This is known as Boundary Representation or Brep for short.  But, what makes voxels really interesting is that it offers a new paradigm where objects are defined as a dense representation of material properties throughout a 3D volume. In addition, voxel-based representations fit perfectly within a new class of 3D printers which have multiple print heads capable of depositing different types of resin (ie. plastic or rubber, clear or opaque, full color) within a single build volume (ie. multimaterial printing). All of this means you now have greater control over how your designs will look, feel, and function.

Features of Monolith include geometry generation and modification, topology analysis and optimization, varied input and output methods, and rasterization to approximate high-resolution vector graphics into finite printable graphics.

For more information on monolith, check out their website here.