Internet-based design visualization for layered manufacturing

When considering the use of layered manufacturing (LM), there are many issues a designer has to address for handling a stereolithography tessellation language (STL) model, the de facto standard for LM. In this paper, we propose an Internet-based design visualization tool for decision support when optimizing the LM process in support of a highly interactive and collaborative virtual environment between CAD designers and LM processes over networks. It directly provides designers with an advanced preprocessor functionality, design visualization/optimization, as well as model display, repair, and slicing over the network. This can help smooth data transfer from CAD to the LM process with minimum inconsistency in CAD data.