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The Support Reduction can be activated for every optimisation scenario separately under the Design Rules entry. It can be chosen between the 3 Three different Support Reduction Modes (Passive, Reactive & Active) can be chosen. Moreover, for Reactive and Active an Intensity value can be set up.
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Build direction
The build direction is the gloval global z-direction by default. If you want to use another direction than that you have to rotate should be used, the part has to be rotated accordingly. The only exception to this are symmetrical Designsoptimisations, for them the build direction is the positive z-direction of the symmetry coordinate system.
Attention: The Material Coordinate System does not have an impact on the build direction for the Support Reduction! The build direciton entry in the scenario refers only to the Material Coordinate System and has no impact on the Support Reduction!
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General Explanation
For different applications there are different priorities and for some the manufacturability is specially high. Therefore, it would be nice to push designs in a direction where the manufacturing gets easier without costing to much performance regarding the efficient design and material allocation.
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The influence of the Support Reduction on the design increases from passive to reactive to active.
For the second and for the third strategy reactive and active a second value can be defined, the intensity. The Intensity intensity can be chosen between 1 and 10, where 1 is very low and 10 is very high. Take in mind that a very high intensity could lead to a slower performance and unusual results. It is recommended to start with the first strategy and use the other two together with the intensity if the results are not satisfying.
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In the following graph the interaction between the part volume and the support volume influence of the strategies is illustrated. You can see the little amount of extra volume can reduce a high amount of the support but also that the most active mode needs significant more material. Note that these It can be saved up to 78% of support volume with activated Support Reduction. As a trade off the mass of the part increases. Because more material is used the part gets a little bit stiffer.
Note that this is only one example that illustrates how the support reduction could look like, but this differs between different parts and tasks. So feel Feel motivated to try the different modes strategies to find the ideal one for your specific part.
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