Finding Mold-Piece Regions Using Computer Graphics Hardware

An important step in the mold design process that ensures disassembly of mold pieces consists of identifying various regions on the part that will be formed by different mold pieces. This paper presents an efficient and robust algorithm to find and highlight the mold-piece regions on a part. The algorithm can be executed on current-generation computer graphics hardware. The complexity of the algorithm solely depends on the time to render the given part. By using a system that can quickly find various mold-piece regions on a part, designers can easily optimize the part and mold design and if needed make appropriate corrections upfront, streamlining the subsequent design steps.