Abstract: Mesh joinery is an innovative method to produce illustrative shape approximations suitable for fabrication. Mesh joinery is capable of producing complex fabricable structures in an efficient and visually pleasing manner. We represent an input geometry as a set of planar pieces arranged to compose a rigid structure, by exploiting an efficient slit mechanism. Since slices are planar, to fabricate them a standard 2D cutting system is enough.

We automatically arrange slices according to a smooth cross-field defined over the surface. Cross-fields allow representing global features that characterize the appearance of the shape. Slice placement conforms to specific manufacturing constraints.