Patent ID: 8868230

Claim:
A method of placing items in a defined space of a 3-D print bed comprising: predetermining one or more layouts for the defined space, each layout comprising a plurality of shapes; maintaining a queue in a computer readable medium, the queue having an order of irregularly shaped items, each of the irregularly shaped items having at least one assigned characteristic; determining at least two configurations of items within the defined space according to a selected metric by a processor, wherein the at least two configurations of items are determined by assigning to each shape in the one or more layouts an irregularly shaped item from the queue, the irregularly shaped item matching at least one of a plurality of irregularly shaped items identified as matching the shape to which the irregularly shaped item is assigned; determining a relative rank of at least two of the configurations by the processor; and selecting, at least in part based on the determined rank, a configuration, wherein the configuration conforms to the print bed for 3-D printing a subset of the irregularly shaped items in the queue.