RWTH Aachen Open-Sources Geometry Library to Cut AM CAM Memory Use

A new tool for AM software developers

The Institute Digital Additive Production (DAP) at RWTH Aachen University has released an open-source geometry library aimed at making CAM software for additive manufacturing faster and less memory-hungry. Called DAP-CG, the C# library targets the geometry processing that happens before a part ever reaches the build plate.

Nesting, part orientation, support generation, slicing and scan strategy calculation all depend on polygon and vector operations. As build jobs grow larger and machines add more lasers, the geometry data these steps produce can overwhelm a standard workstation. DAP-CG introduces polygon aggregation, self-intersection checks and redundant vertex removal. It also uses modern C# features like Span and SIMD to speed up translation and rotation.

Five times less memory in real projects

The algorithms come from the institute's own industrial development work. During the Industrialization and Digitalization of Additive Manufacturing (IDAM) project, a polygon compression algorithm reduced memory needed for nesting by a factor of five. Similar savings appeared in slicing and scan strategy software.

That difference can decide whether a large build job runs on a 32 GB desktop or needs a server-class machine. It also matters when CAM software runs on rented cloud infrastructure, where memory costs translate directly to the bill.

Permissive license, broad appeal

DAP-CG builds on the open-source geometry3Sharp and Clipper2 libraries. It is released under the Boost Software License, which allows free use in commercial products. DAP says the library does not remove the need for machine-specific validation, but it gives developers a tested starting point instead of building geometry routines from scratch.

The IDAM project was funded by Germany's Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space. DAP-CG is available now at dap-aachen.de/dap-cg.