Improved slicing algorithm employing nearest distance method

Abstract Although stereo lithography (STL) file format is widely used as a de facto industry standard in rapid prototyping (RP), there are in practice always some defects and shortcomings when the slicing output file (SOF) is generated. As the model size and complexity grow, the defects grow exponentially and as a result it becomes impossible to fix the STL files manually. Modifying the head-to-tail algorithm, a new method that produces an error-free SOF (in spite of defects in the original STL file) with fewer data to analyse is presented herein. The nearest distance algorithm employed guarantees fully closed contours.