Computer-aided design file format for additive manufacturing and methods of file generation

Abstract

A method of generating a tessellated output file comprising receiving a computer-aided design (CAD) model file defining a CAD model including a plurality of vertices, a plurality of curves, a plurality of surfaces, and at least one volume; generating base polygon data defining the CAD model for additive manufacturing, the base polygon data including a plurality of connected polygons, each polygon including a plurality of nodes, a plurality of edges, and a face; generating data for a vertex metadata container including a listing of CAD model vertices and one polygon node associated with each CAD model vertex; generating data for a curve metadata container including a listing of CAD model curves and at least one polygon edge associated with each CAD model curve; and generating data for a surface metadata container including a listing of CAD model surfaces and at least one polygon face associated with each CAD model surface.