Solid Freefonn Fabrication (SFF) is a class of manufacturing technologies aimed at the
production of mechanical components without part-specific tooling or process planning. Originally
used for creating modelsfor visualization, many industrial users of SFF technologies are realizing
the greater potentialofSFF as legitimate manufacturing processes for producing patterns and, in
some cases, functional.parts. Thus, SFF is becoming an important aspect of the product
realization process in these industries.
Solid Freefonn Fabrication arose from the dream of "push-button" prototyping, in which
solid reproductions of three-dimensional geometric models are created automatically under
computer control. Perhaps more than any other class of manufacturing technologies, computer
software development has been an integral part of the emergence of SFF. As SFF technologies
evolve toward the ability to create functional parts, computer issues gain more importance.
This paper discusses three aspects of software design for SFF: processing of geometric
data, global and local control of SFF processes, and computer-based analysis and design for SFF
manufacturing. The discussion of geometric processing issues focuses on accuracy and
completeness of input models, and the algorithms required to process such models. The interplay
between the physics of SFF processing and the desired output geometry is discussed in terms of
the development of model-based control algorithms for SFF. These two areas, geometric
processing and control, are necessary for the practical implementation of any SFF technology.
However, for SFF to realize its potential as an alternative for manufacturing functional parts,
engineers must be provided with analysis and design tools for predicting mechanical properties,
ensuring dimensional accuracy, choosing appropriate materials, selecting process parameter
values, etc. For each of these three different but related areas of software design, the state-of-theart
is assessed, contemporary research is summarized, and future needs are outlined.Mechanical Engineerin
