Saving material and improving strength are two important but conflicting requirements in 3D
printing. We propose a novel method for designing the internal supporting frame structures
of 3D objects based on their medial axis such that the objects are fabricated with minimal
amount of material but can still withstand specified external load. Our method is inspired by
the observation that the medial axis, being the skeleton of an object, serves as a natural
backbone structure of the object to improve its resistance to external loads. A hexagon …