Publications

OpenVCAD is an active research project developed by the Matter Assembly Computation Lab at CU Boulder. The framework spans multiple papers; use these citations when referencing OpenVCAD or specific capabilities.

Papers

1. OpenVCAD: An open-source volumetric multi-material geometry compiler (2024)

   Core framework; implicit volumetric design; inkjet/PolyJet workflows.

   Read the paper (Additive Manufacturing)

   @article{wade2024openvcad,
      title={OpenVCAD: An open source volumetric multi-material geometry compiler},
      author={Wade, Charles and Williams, Graham and Connelly, Sean and Kopec, Braden and MacCurdy, Robert},
      journal={Additive Manufacturing},
      volume={79},
      pages={103912},
      year={2024},
      publisher={Elsevier}
   }
   

2. Implicit Toolpath Generation for Functionally Graded Additive Manufacturing via Gradient-Aware Slicing (2025)

   Extends VCAD to toolpath-based systems (e.g., FFF) with gradient-aware slicing.

   Read the paper (Additive Manufacturing)

   @article{wade2025toolpaths,
      title = {Implicit Toolpath Generation for Functionally Graded Additive Manufacturing via Gradient-Aware Slicing},
      author = {Wade, Charles and Beck, Devon and MacCurdy, Robert},
      journal = {Additive Manufacturing},
      year = {2025},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2025.104963},
   }
   

3. Implicit Modeling for 3D-Printed Multi-Material Computational Object Design via Python (2025)

   Python-first API (pyvcad), enhanced lattice workflows, and simulation-informed design/export.

   Read the paper (Proceedings of the 10th ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication)

   @article{wade2025pyvcad,
      title = {Implicit Modeling for 3D-printed Multi-material Computational Object Design via Python},
      author = {Wade, Charles and Beck, Devon and MacCurdy, Robert},
      journal = {Proceedings of the 10th ACM Symposium on Computational Fabrication},
      year = {2025},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2509.15562},
   }