Whenever we want to print something, we take an STL file,

3D Printing
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Whenever we want to print something, we take an STL file, run it through Slic3r, Skeinforge or whatever suits us and the program does its magic to slice the file and generate gcode. My question is, what is the theory behind slicing and gcode generation? Whenever I try to google the subject, I end up with tutorials on how to set up the slicer program and what buttons to press, but I am curious on the mathematical theory and the algorithms behind the slicing. Does anyone have any links to slicing theory?

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CC0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Futwired.engr.utexas.edu%2Flff%2Fsymposium%2FproceedingsArchive%2Fpubs%2FManuscripts%2F1999%2F1999-018-Choi.pdf&ei=RPLWUu7mGMu8oQSkl4KoDg&usg=AFQjCNG2nQN397EYGJ8-7YB2txKJhCmAgw

That paper looks decent, you could read through the sources for more info

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Also i do like this example.

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Thanks, I’ll look at those links tonight. I have also considered looking at the Skeinforge source. It seems like it’s nicely separated into modules, so I can get an understanding of each step.