3D Printing Locally Activated Visual-Displays Embedded in 3D Objects via Electrically Conductive and Thermochromic Materials

3D printed displays have the potential to create unique visual interfaces for physical objects, but current methods either require specialized post-processing or are limited to passive color changes triggered by environmental factors. This paper presents ThermoPixels, a method for designing and 3D printing actively controlled, visually rich thermochromic displays embedded in arbitrary shapes. By studying the color-changing and thermal properties of thermochromic and conductive filaments, the authors developed ThermoPixels and a software tool that enables embedding these displays in various 3D geometries, including flat, curved, textured, multicolored, or flexible forms.

@inproceedings{10.1145/3613904.3642537,
  author = {Moon, Kongpyung (Justin) and Marciniak, Zofia and Suzuki, Ryo and Bianchi, Andrea},
  title = {3D Printing Locally Activated Visual-Displays Embedded in 3D Objects via Electrically Conductive and Thermochromic Materials},
  year = {2024},
  isbn = {9798400703300},
  publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
  address = {New York, NY, USA},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642537},
  doi = {10.1145/3613904.3642537},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
  articleno = {343},
  numpages = {15},
  keywords = {3D Displays, Color-changing Interfaces, Local Heating, Multi-material Printing, Thermochromic Filaments},
  location = {Honolulu, HI, USA},
  series = {CHI '24}
}