Solid Knitting
ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2024)
pdf (18.5 mb)
hand knitting instructions (10 mb)
hand knitting instructions (video)
video (5 m)
code
doi
bibtex
We introduce solid knitting, a new fabrication technique that combines the layer-by-layer volumetric approach of 3D printing with the topologically-entwined stitch structure of knitting to produce solid 3D objects. We define the basic building blocks of solid knitting and demonstrate a working prototype of a solid knitting machine controlled by a low-level instruction language, along with a volumetric design tool for creating machine-knittable patterns. Solid knitting uses a course-wale-layer structure, where every loop in a solid-knit object passes through both a loop from the previous layer and a loop from the previous course. Our machine uses two beds of latch needles to create stitches like a conventional V-bed knitting machine, but augments these needles with a pair of rotating hook arrays to provide storage locations for all of the loops in one layer of the object. It can autonomously produce solid-knit prisms of arbitrary length, although it requires manual intervention to cast on the first layer and bind off the final row. Our design tool allows users to create solid knitting patterns by connecting elementary stitches; objects designed in our interface can—after basic topological checks and constraint propagation—be exported as a sequence of instructions for fabrication on the solid knitting machine. We validate our solid knitting hardware and software on prism examples, detail the mechanical errors which we have encountered, and discuss potential extensions to the capability of our solid knitting machine.
Paper
Bibtex
@article{Hirose:2024:SK,
author = {Hirose, Yuichi and Gillespie, Mark and Bonilla Fominaya, Angelica M. and McCann, James},
title = {Solid Knitting},
journal = {ACM Trans. Graph.},
volume = {43},
number = {4},
year = {2024},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
doi = {10.1145/3658123},
month = jul,
articleno = {88},
pages = {1--15}
}
Supplement: Solid Knitting by Hand
Selected Figures
In the media
Solid Knitting – a new fabrication technique
(Knitting Industry Creative)
Solid-knitting machine builds reconfigurable objects
(Textile Technology Source)
Solid knitting: 3D printing with yarn
(Material District)
3D knitting could make solid but soft furniture
(Cosmos magazine)
Beware IKEA: Solid knitted three-dimensional furniture could be a reality
(Interesting Engineering)
Beyond the Threads
(ACM SIGGRAPH Blog)
Acknowledgements
Part of this work was supported by the INNO-vation Program of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan, the 100BANCH GARAGE Program of Panasonic Holdings Corporation, and the MITOU Advanced Program of the Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan. This material is partially based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award No. 1955444, and upon the master's thesis and patent of our first author [Hirose 2014, 2022].