InfoPrint: Embedding Interactive Information in 3D Prints Using Low-Cost Readily-Available Printers and Materials

Abstract

We present a fully-printable method to embed interactive information inside 3D printed objects. The information is invisible to the human eye and can be read using thermal imaging after temperature transfer through interaction with the objects. Prior methods either modify the surface appearance, require customized devices or not commonly used materials, or embed components that are not fully 3D printable. Such limitations restrict the design space for 3D prints, or cannot be readily applied to the already deployed 3D printing setups. In this paper, we present an information embedding technique using low-cost off-the-shelf dual extruder FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) 3D printers, common materials (e.g., generic PLA), and a mobile thermal device (e.g., a thermal smartphone), by leveraging the thermal properties of common 3D print materials. In addition, we show our method can also be generalized to conventional near-infrared imaging scenarios. We evaluate our technique against multiple design and fabrication parameters and propose a design guideline for different use cases. Finally, we demonstrate various everyday applications enabled by our method, such as interactive thermal displays, user-activated augmented reality, automating thermal triggered events, and hidden tokens for social activities.