3D Surface Structures and 3D Halftoning

As 3D printing is becoming increasingly popular, the demand for high quality surface reproduction is also increasing. Like in 2D printing, halftoning plays an important role in the quality of the surface reproduction. Developing advanced 3D halftoning methods for 3D printing and adapting them to the structure of the surface is therefore essential for improving surface reproduction quality. In this paper, an extension of an iterative 2D halftoning method to 3D is used to apply different halftone structures on 3D surfaces. The results show that using different halftones based on the 3D geometrical structure of the surface and/or the viewing angle in combination with the structure of the texture being mapped on the surface can potentially improve the quality of the appearance of 3D surfaces.