Spherene Features Overview

Spherene is a design tool for the world of infill structures, giving you access to our patented metamaterials based on Adaptive Density Minimal Surfaces (ADMS). ADMS adapts automatically to your part’s shape, loads, and functional requirements, creating highly efficient, customizable interiors. 

This technology lives on our platform - SphereneNXT   

It is also available across four CAD integrations: Rhino and Grasshopper, Autodesk Fusion, and nTop. 

 

Core Technology 

Fundamental properties

Isotropy: Optimal Stress Dispersion ADMS geometry distributes stress uniformly in all directions, unlike conventional lattices. This near-isotropic behavior makes Spherene particularly effective for mechanical loading applications. 

Structural Resilience: The interconnected minimal surface topology provides inherent structural redundancy. Local failure does not propagate catastrophically through the structure. 

Surface Conformity: Designed to conform to complex enclosing geometries, making it compatible with complex part shapes and various 3D printing methods. 

Rapid Iteration: It is designed to be fast and user-friendly, enabling quick design cycles. 

 

Features In SphereneNXT – common in All Plugins 

The following features are available in every spherene integration. 

Envelope-Based Generation 

Every spherene computation starts from an envelope — a closed mesh that defines the outer boundary of the part to be filled. The ADMS is generated within this volume and trimmed to it. Only one envelope is used per computation. 

Density Field 

Density controls material distribution within the envelope and is the primary control over material distribution. A single value produces a constant density throughout the part; multiple point-value pairs create a spatial density gradient, enabling precise control over local stiffness and weight. 

Surface Bias Field 

Surface bias controls how the minimal surface shifts from its neutral position along its normal direction. Values range from −1 (full negative shift) to +1 (full positive shift). This parameter can be varied spatially, just like density, and directly affects the surface morphology of the generated geometry as well as the size of the chambers on both sides of the minimal surface.. 

Density Field Envelope (dfenv) 

The density field envelope is a secondary mesh that defines where ADMS is computed, independent of the final trimmed envelope By default, it matches the envelope but defining a larger or differently shaped dfenv allows spherene to be generated at sharp edges and thin regions — or excluded from specific areas — that would otherwise be geometrically difficult to fill. After computing, the result is trimmed back to the original envelope. 

Cavity 

Cavities allow users to push the spherene geometry away from a defined surface or volume, creating voids or openings within the structure. This is particularly useful for integrating inlets, outlets, channels, or other functional features. Cavities can be applied independently to either chamber (Front or Back) of the ADMS. 

Single Surface and Solid Surface Output 

All plugins can produce two output types: 

• Single Surface: a paper-thin, zero-thickness 2D ADMS, representing the pure minimal surface geometry. 

• Solid Surface: a solid mesh derived from the surface, with a defined wall thickness, ready for manufacturing. 

 

Scatter Vector 

Scatter Vector gives users direct control over local geometric stretching through vector fields, enabling intentional anisotropy in the otherwise near-isotropic ADMS. Users define one or more vectors at points across the volume; the vector direction determines where the geometry stretches, and the magnitude defines how much. Two vectors per point allow multi-directional deformation. This feature enables directional stiffness, load-path-aligned structures, and local reinforcement without changing the envelope. 

Flow ADMS and Flow Direction 

Flow ADMS is a flow-optimized variant of the ADMS geometry, developed specifically to address fluid dynamics challenges in heat exchangers, cooling systems, and other fluid applications. It delivers a balanced pressure drop between chambers and significantly lower overall fluid resistance compared to conventional TPMS geometries. Flow Direction extends this further by allowing users to define preferred flow paths via vector fields, aligning the surface geometry to prescribed flow directions. In benchmark comparisons against gyroid-based TPMS, Flow Direction has demonstrated greater than 20% reduction in pressure drop while maintaining equal thermal performance. 

 

Plugin-Exclusive Features 

Some features are available only in specific plugins, driven by the capabilities of the host CAD environment. 

Thickness Field — Rhino/Grasshopper/Fusion 

Wall thickness can be controlled spatially through a Thickness Field, independently of density. Assigning different thickness values to different points or geometries creates a gradient of wall thickness across the structure. This is separate from the Density Reference Thickness (DRT), which is used as a reference for density calculation; the Thickness Field directly sets the physical wall width of the solid output. 

When no Thickness Field is defined, wall thickness is derived from the Density Reference Thickness (DRT) and density settings throughout. 

Boundary Modifier — Rhino/Grasshopper/Fusion 

The Boundary modifier grows the spherene structure near a selected surface into a solid hull, enabling smooth transitions between the open ADMS structure and solid skin regions. Key parameters include hull thickness, target wall thickness at the boundary, blend distance, and blend exponent (which controls the profile of the transition curve). Boundaries can be applied to one or both labyrinth spaces independently. 

Detail Modifier — Rhino/Grasshopper/Fusion 

The Detail modifier allows closed bodies or meshes to be added to or subtracted from the spherene geometry using Boolean operations. When adding geometry, the ADMS blends smoothly into the detail body with configurable blend parameters, similar to the Boundary modifier. This is useful for integrating connectors, threaded inserts, bosses, or engraved labels into the spherene structure. 

Mesh Reduction — Rhino/Grasshopper/Fusion 

Output meshes can be reduced in polygon count to improve downstream performance — particularly for slicing in additive manufacturing workflows — without significantly affecting the overall geometry. 

Z Factor — Rhino/Grasshopper/Fusion 

The Z Factor scales the top overhangs of the spherene geometry slightly upward, producing thicker top surfaces. This is specifically designed to improve compatibility with FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) slicers, which generate more solid top layers when the geometry has sufficient thickness at the top. 

Mesh Colorization — Rhino and Grasshopper 

Output meshes can be colorized based on selected quantities, allowing visual analysis of field distributions (such as density or surface bias) directly on the computed geometry within the CAD environment. 

Scalarfield to Point Map — nTop 

nTop provides a dedicated utility block, Scalarfield to Point Map, that generates a point map from a scalar field by sampling points and scaling values to a specified range. This enables direct integration with nTop's native field and simulation outputs, allowing FEA or CFD results to drive spherene parameters such as density without manual point placement. 

Parametric and Programmatic Control — Grasshopper  

Grasshopper exposes all spherene parameters as Grasshopper components, enabling full parametric control and integration with any Grasshopper-based workflow. Computation can be triggered automatically via a Boolean toggle, making it possible to embed spherene generation within larger automated design pipelines. All inputs — density, surface bias, thickness, boundaries, details, and cavities — can be driven by upstream Grasshopper logic. 

Inspector Interface — Rhino 

Rhino includes a dedicated Inspector panel that allows users to add and edit field points and geometries interactively by clicking directly within the Rhino viewport. This provides a highly tactile, direct-manipulation workflow without requiring command-line input. 

Edit Interface — Fusion 

Fusion includes a dedicated Edit panel that allows users to edit and remove assigned spherene parameters. 

Some plugins (Rhino/Grasshopper/Fusion) can provide two more output types: 

• Halfspaces — surface meshes of the two chambers separated by the single surface as CFD-ready input meshes. 

• Labyrinth — surface meshes of the two chambers separated by the solid surface as CFD-ready input meshes. 

 

Feature Comparison Summary 

Feature	sphereneNXT	Rhino	Grasshopper	Fusion	nTop
ADMS Generation	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
TPMS Structures	✓	—	—	—	—
Density Field	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Surface Bias Field	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Density Field Envelope (dfenv)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cavity	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Single & Solid Surface Output	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Boundary Modifier	✓	✓	✓	✓	—
Detail Modifier	✓	✓	✓	✓	—
Scatter Vector	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Flow ADMS & Flow Direction	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Thickness Field	✓	✓	✓	✓	—
Boolean	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Printability Improvement (Z Thickness, Fix Overhangs)	✓	—	—	—	—
Volcano Modifier	✓	✓	✓	✓	—
Mesh Colorization	✓	✓	✓	—	—
Z Factor (FFF Top Layers)	✓	✓	✓	✓	—
Parametric / Programmatic Control	—	—	✓	—	✓
Scalarfield to Point Map	—	—	—	—	✓
Inspector (Interactive Viewport)	✓	✓	—	—	—
Built-in Example Files	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓