RelieFoam: Rapid Prototyping of 2.5D Texture using Laser Cutter

We propose RelieFoam, a rapid prototyping method that uses a laser cutter to produce a 2.5D textured surface on polystyrene foam. Conventional rapid prototyping methods using a laser cutter can quickly create 3D prototypes, but with the limitation that their surfaces can only be flat and smooth. Our method enables the rapid creation of objects with finely detailed 2.5D textured surfaces. By applying localized high-density energy from a laser cutter to low thermal conductivity polystyrene foam, a laser cutter can selectively remove only the specific parts of the surface of the polystyrene foam being targeted. We have built a computational model that calculates the laser parameters required to engrave the polystyrene foam in this way. Applying the laser parameters calculated by our model, we are able to implement applications with haptic textures and visual translucency and thus demonstrate the potential of our method.