Single Surface vs Solid Surface

 The four output types

Output	What it is	File size	Compute speed
Single Surface	Zero-thickness minimal surface mesh. The mathematical midplane of the ADMS structure.	Smallest	Fastest
Solid Surface	Thickened printable mesh. The single surface offset outward by the wall thickness on both sides.	Medium	Moderate
Halfspaces	The two geometric halfspace solids of the ADMS surface as separate mesh bodies.	Larger	Slower
Labyrinths	The two internal channel volumes (the void spaces between the walls) as separate mesh bodies.	Larger	Slower

 

Single Surface

The single surface (si) is a paper-thin mesh that represents the mathematical midplane of the ADMS geometry. It has zero wall thickness.

Use it for:

• Design review during iteration. It computes significantly faster than solid surface and gives you immediate feedback on density distribution, cell size, and overall geometry.
• Colorize analysis: density, mean curvature, overhang angle, surface bias, and thickness can all be visualised on the single surface as vertex colours.
• Sheet simulation in FEA tools that work with surface meshes.
• Single-pass printing methods that print directly on a zero-thickness surface.

Solid Surface

The solid surface (SO) is the printable version of the ADMS geometry. It is derived from the single surface by offsetting outward on both sides by the wall thickness, creating a closed mesh body with physical wall thickness.

Use it for:

• All 3D printing. The solid surface is the output you export to your slicer or build preparation software.
• FEA on solid mesh geometry (voxel-based simulation).
• Visual review of the final printable geometry including surface quality and boundary transitions.

The solid surface has two quality modes in most plugins:

• Draft: reduced resolution. Faster to compute. Use during design iteration when you want to review wall thicknesses and boundary transitions without the cost of production quality.
• Production (High Quality): full resolution. Smoother surface. Use only for the final export before printing.

Halfspaces

Halfspaces outputs the two geometric solids that make up the ADMS structure itself: each "side" of the minimal surface thickened into a solid body. The two halfspaces interlock without touching.

Use it for:

• Downstream geometry analysis where you need each side of the ADMS as a separate solid.
• Advanced Boolean operations where you want to work with the ADMS material separately from the void.

 

Labyrinths

Labyrinths outputs the two internal void channel volumes as separate solid mesh bodies. These represent the empty spaces inside the ADMS structure, the two continuous channels that run through the geometry without ever connecting to each other.

Use it for:

• CFD simulation: import the labyrinth volumes as the fluid domain geometry in Ansys Fluent, OpenFOAM, or StarCCM+.
• Heat exchanger design: assign hot fluid to one labyrinth and cold fluid to the other.
• Verifying channel connectivity before printing.

Which output to use at each stage

Stage	Output to use	Why
Early iteration (design exploration)	Single Surface only	Fastest feedback on density and geometry.
Design refinement (reviewing walls and boundaries)	Single Surface + Solid Surface Draft	Confirms wall thickness and boundary transitions without full production cost.
Final export for printing	Solid Surface Production (High Quality)	Full resolution for slicing and build prep.
FEA analysis	Single Surface (shell) or Solid Surface (solid mesh)	Depends on simulation type.
CFD analysis	Labyrinths	Fluid domain volumes for flow simulation.