We present fastForce, a software tool that detects structural flaws in laser cut 3D models and fixes them by introducing additional plates into the model, thereby making models up to 52x stronger. By focusing on a specific type of structural issue, i.e., poorly connected sub-structures in closed box structures, fastForce achieves real-time performance (10^6x faster than finite element analysis, in the specific case of the wheelbarrow from Figure 1). This allows fastForce to fix structural issues continuously in the background, while users stay focused on editing their models and without ever becoming aware of any structural issues. In our study, six of seven participants inadvertently introduced severe structural flaws into the guitar stands they designed. Similarly, we found 286 of 402 relevant models in the kyub [1] model library to contain such flaws. We integrated fastForce into a 3D editor for lasercutting (kyub) and found that even with high plate counts fastForce achieves real-time performance.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445466
The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (https://chi2021.acm.org/)