Patent ID: 8565909

Claim:
A method, using a computer, for generating a recipe for generating a physical object, comprising: determining characteristics of a plurality of base materials; determining a desired set of characteristics for the object to be generated; calculating locations of portions of a plurality of base materials that at least approximate the desired set of characteristics for the object to be generated, wherein calculating locations of a plurality of base materials comprises: a) generating a data structure corresponding to a search space over a space representative of combinations of at least two of the plurality of base materials having differing characteristics; b) storing a representation of an initial position in the search space, wherein the initial position corresponds to a combination of the plurality of base materials; c) estimating a prospective set of characteristics that would result from an object made according to the combination of the plurality of base materials corresponding to the initial position; d) comparing the prospective set of characteristics with the desired set of characteristics; e) determining if a difference between the prospective set of characteristics and the desired set of characteristics is below a target threshold; f) if the difference between the prospective set of characteristics and the desired set of characteristics is not below the target threshold, identifying a subsequent position in the search space, wherein the subsequent position is other than the initial position; g) storing a representation of the subsequent position; h) adjusting the prospective set of characteristics according to the subsequent position; and i) repeating steps c) through h) until the difference between the prospective set of characteristics and the desired set of characteristics is below the target threshold; and outputting instructions for generating an object from located portions of the plurality of base materials.