× Expand 3MF Consortium releases first standardised 3D Beam Lattice extension.

The consortium behind the full-fidelity 3MF 3D printing file format, has released its Beam Lattice Specification Extension to its 3MF Core Specification.

The 3MF Beam Lattice extension is a new method for storing and transferring lattice-type geometry information said to solve a significant interoperability issue for additive manufacturing (AM) by delivering improved design flexibility, lower material costs and reduced production time.

The 3MF Core Specification retains all build information, colours, materials and technology specific characteristics such as support structures within the file. With this latest extension, designers and engineers are able to create parts for AM featuring lattice interiors that were not previously possible just a few years ago.

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"The 3MF Beam Lattice Extension simplifies creation of lattice structures for 3D printing in additive manufacturing environments," said Alexander Oster, chairman, 3MF Technical Working Group and director, Additive Manufacturing, Autodesk. "The central idea of this extension is to enrich the geometry notion of 3MF with beam lattice elements that can represent small-scale lattices as well as larger truss structures - both of which are quite inefficient to handle with a mesh representation, especially in cases where the element count grows into large numbers."

This is the fourth specification extension released by 3MF furthering its goal of providing a universal specification for 3D printing. The consortium provides open source code free of charge and companies such as 3D Systems, Autodesk, Dassault Systèmes, HP, Materialise, Microsoft, nTopology, PTC, Siemens and Ultimaker have already adopted the specification.

"Using lattice structures unlocks a key potential of additive manufacturing," said Adrian Lannin, executive director, 3MF Consortium. "The 3MF Beam Lattice Extension to our core specification provides the most efficient expression of lattice geometry and moves the industry forward toward standardizing the software for an end-to-end 3D printing solution."