Charles C. Wade

My expertise lies in design, fabrication, and automation, with a focus on applying digital fabrication technologies to advance the creation of complex engineered objects. I am committed to developing innovative methods that effectively integrate automation with design processes.

I believe that to fully leverage the potential of additive manufacturing, a fundamental shift in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) is necessary. Current CAD methods often rely on outdated paradigms rooted in traditional manufacturing, limiting the design possibilities within additive manufacturing. My goal is to develop new CAD methodologies that incorporate novel geometry representations, automated and simulation-driven design synthesis, and work in consultation with the fabrication modality. This will enable engineers to design and fabricate a wider range of complex geometries and functionalities.

Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, where I conduct research in the Matter Assembly Computation Laboratory under the guidance of Dr. Robert MacCurdy. My research focuses on developing automated methods for the design and optimization of additively manufactured objects, with an emphasis on optimization-driven design, enhancing multi-material additive manufacturing, and developing novel printing systems.

One significant outcome of my PhD research has been the creation of OpenVCAD, an open-source toolkit that facilitates the design and fabrication of functionally graded and multi-material objects. My work has applications in diverse areas, including lattice structures for impact mitigation, soft robotics, pre-surgical planning models, and the development of new meta-materials.

news

Nov 22, 2024	I’m pleased to announce that I have successfully passed my PhD area examination, the first major milestone in the PhD program. My presentation, “Enabling Multi-Material 3D Printing: Bridging Design and Fabrication,” explored new ways for designers to express multi-material objects. It provided historical context and analysis to chart future directions in computer-aided design for 3D printing. A recording of the presentation can be viewed here.
Oct 1, 2024	I received the Ralph J. Slutz Student Excellence Award from the Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder. This award recognizes students for academic excellence and research. To learn more about the award and Dr. Slutz, visit: https://xiaodongzhang1911.github.io/R_J_Slutz.html
Dec 5, 2023	I am excited to announce the publication of my paper titled “OpenVCAD: An Open Source Volumetric Multi-Material Geometry Compiler” in the journal Additive Manufacturing. This project is the culmination of the first major project during my PhD studies. The project is open source for researchers and hobbyists. For more information, please visit the dedicated website at matterassembly.org/openvcad.
Nov 27, 2023	My paper, Determining Optimal Print Orientation Using GPU-Accelerated Convex Hull Analysis, was published at SCF ‘23: Symposium on Computational Fabrication! Check the paper out here. This work was implemented into the open-source Oak Ridge National Laboratory Slicer 2 project.
Oct 6, 2023	A recent blog post on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory website highlights the outcome of a project I was involved in at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Our team successfully 3D printed a prototype rover wheel for NASA. My role in this project focused on the development of an innovative real-time slicing workflow. This was crucial for generating the billions of G-code commands required to precisely construct the wheel.

selected publications

OpenVCAD: An open source volumetric multi-material geometry compiler

Charles Wade, Graham Williams, Sean Connelly, Braden Kopec, and Robert MacCurdy

Additive Manufacturing, 2024

Abs Bib PDF Code Website

Modern additive manufacturing has made significant advancements in multi-material fabrication techniques that allow for position-specific control of material deposition. With these advancements, design tools have fallen behind machine capabilities in specifying volumetric information. Traditionally, design and fabrication workflows have expressed multi-material objects as several single-material bodies. By storing only the information about the surfaces of the geometries, information about the volumetric composition of the solids is unrepresented. The intense interest in compliant mechanisms and meta-materials demands a new design method that can support architecting material distribution throughout an object. To address these needs, we present OpenVCAD, an open-source volumetric design compiler with multi-material capabilities. OpenVCAD provides a scriptable suite of geometric and material design methods that enable efficient representation of object with complex geometry and material distributions. OpenVCAD allows functional specification of multi-material volumes that are parameterized on spatial locations, yielding complex multi-material distributions that would be impossible to describe using alternative methods. This paper will present the OpenVCAD pipeline, compare it to related work, and demonstrate its use through the design and manufacturing of functionally graded multi-material components.
@article{OpenVCAD, title = {OpenVCAD: An open source volumetric multi-material geometry compiler}, journal = {Additive Manufacturing}, pages = {103912}, year = {2024}, issn = {2214-8604}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2023.103912}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214860423005250}, author = {Wade, Charles and Williams, Graham and Connelly, Sean and Kopec, Braden and MacCurdy, Robert}, keywords = {Volumetric design, Multi-material additive manufacturing, Meta-materials, Lattice-structures, InkJet 3D printing, Functional grading}, }
Determining Optimal Print Orientation Using GPU-Accelerated Convex Hull Analysis

Charles Wade, Breanne Crockett, Michael Borish, and Robert Maccurdy

In Proceedings of the 8th ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication, 2023

Abs Bib PDF Code Slides

In fused filament fabrication (FFF), the orientation of a part within the printer volume can dramatically affect print quality and probability of success. An object’s orientation determines how much support structure will be required and the strength of adhesion between the deposited material and the build surface. Selecting a part’s orientation is a non-trivial problem that users of FFF slicing software face routinely. Numerous part orientations need to be considered to find the best according to the results of the slicing process. This paper presents a method to automatically determine an optimal printing orientation for FFF that maximizes build-surface adhesion while minimizing the need for support structure. The algorithm considers the slicing angle and a configurable angle for overhang that requires supporting structure. By employing GPU acceleration and convex hull analysis to limit candidate orientations, the algorithm can run in real time as a preprocessing aid to users slicing parts.
@inproceedings{10.1145/3623263.3623360, author = {Wade, Charles and Crockett, Breanne and Borish, Michael and Maccurdy, Robert}, title = {Determining Optimal Print Orientation Using GPU-Accelerated Convex Hull Analysis}, year = {2023}, isbn = {9798400703195}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3623263.3623360}, doi = {10.1145/3623263.3623360}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 8th ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication}, articleno = {4}, numpages = {9}, keywords = {additive manufacturing, GPU acceleration, toolpath-planning, optimization, computer-aided design}, location = {, New York City, NY, USA, }, series = {SCF '23}, }

ORNL Slicer 2 - Open Source Copyright

Alex Roschli, Michael Borish, Abigail Barnes, Charles Wade, Breanne Crockett, Liam White, Cameron Adkins, USDOE Office Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energy

May 2024

Bib Code Slides

@misc{osti_2352739,
  title = {ORNL Slicer 2 - Open Source Copyright},
  author = {Roschli, Alex and Borish, Michael and Barnes, Abigail and Wade, Charles and Crockett, Breanne and White, Liam and Adkins, Cameron and of Energy Efficiency, USDOE Office and Energy, Renewable},
  abstractnote = {ORNL Slicer 2 is a slicing program for additive manufacturing. It takes a solid body mesh object, typically as .STL file, and converts that into machine readable instructions, called g-code, that a 3D printer can use to build the object. The functionality includes loading and positioning an object, slicing it into layers, fitting toolpaths to the layers, and outputting g-code to construct the object. All of this is contained within a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to define all of the settings specific to their machine and process, then preview the resultant g-code before starting the printing process.},
  url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/2352739},
  doi = {10.11578/dc.20240520.1},
  year = {2024},
  month = may,
}

Hybrid Curve Fitting for Reducing Motion Commands in Object Construction

Charles Wade, and Michael Borish

In 2022 International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium, May 2022

Bib PDF

@inproceedings{wade2022hybrid,
  title = {Hybrid Curve Fitting for Reducing Motion Commands in Object Construction},
  author = {Wade, Charles and Borish, Michael},
  booktitle = {2022 International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium},
  year = {2022},
}

A GPU-based Approach for Path Planning Optimization via Travel Length Reduction

Michael Borish, and Charles Wade

Procedia Manufacturing, May 2021

Bib PDF

@article{borish2021gpu,
  title = {A GPU-based Approach for Path Planning Optimization via Travel Length Reduction},
  author = {Borish, Michael and Wade, Charles},
  journal = {Procedia Manufacturing},
  volume = {53},
  pages = {310--317},
  year = {2021},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
}