modeling/minkowski

Minkowski sum operations for 3D geometries.

The Minkowski sum of two shapes A and B is the set of all points that are the sum of a point in A and a point in B. This is useful for:

Offsetting/inflating shapes (using a sphere creates rounded edges)
Collision detection (shapes collide iff their Minkowski difference contains origin)
Motion planning and swept volumes

Source:

modeling/src/operations/minkowski/index.js, line 1

Example

const { minkowskiSum } = require('@jscad/modeling').minkowski
const rounded = minkowskiSum(cube, sphere)

Methods

(static) minkowskiSum(…geometries) → {geom3}

Source:

modeling/src/operations/minkowski/minkowskiSum.js, line 33

Compute the Minkowski sum of two 3D geometries.

The Minkowski sum A ⊕ B is the set of all points a + b where a ∈ A and b ∈ B. Geometrically, this "inflates" geometry A by the shape of geometry B.

Common use cases:

Offset a solid by a sphere to round all edges and corners
Offset a solid by a cube to create chamfered edges
Collision detection (if Minkowski sum contains origin, shapes overlap)

For best performance, use convex geometries. Non-convex geometries are supported when the second operand is convex, but require decomposition and are slower.

Example

const { primitives, minkowski } = require('@jscad/modeling')
const cube = primitives.cuboid({ size: [10, 10, 10] })
const sphere = primitives.sphere({ radius: 2, segments: 16 })
const rounded = minkowski.minkowskiSum(cube, sphere)

Parameters:

Name	Type	Attributes	Description
`geometries`	Object	<repeatable>	two geom3 geometries (second should be convex for non-convex first)

Returns:

new 3D geometry representing the Minkowski sum

Type: geom3