approximateSupportMomentArea

pyslm.support.approximateSupportMomentArea(part, overhangAngle)

The support moment area is a metric, which projects the distance from the base-plate (\(z=0\)) for each support surface multiplied by the area. It gives a two parameter component cost function for the support area.

Note

This is an approximation that does not account for any self-intersections. It does not use ray queries to project the distance towards the mesh, therefore is more useful estimating the overall cost of the support structures, during initial support optimisation.

Parameters:

• part (Part) – The part to analyse

• overhangAngle (float) – The overhang angle in degrees

Return type:

float

Returns:

The approximate cost function