Structural Topology Optimization
A Blender add-on for early-stage structural topology optimization, intended as a tool for geometry discovery through analyzing applied loads, boundary conditions and material distribution within the given design space.
The solver implements a 3D SIMP+OC (Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization and Optimality Criteria) method on a voxelized volume of a mesh. Tag your geometry as boundary domain, loads, supports, or property regions, run the solver, and watch a density field emerge iteration by iteration. Extract a smooth mesh from the result when done.
Treat results as visual sketches for geometry discovery rather than verified engineering output. Always confirm load-bearing designs with proper FEA tools.
Workflow
- Tag mesh objects with roles from the Struct Topo N-panel (See Roles)
- Set Voxel Size and click Voxelize & Preview to see the voxelized domain
- Click Solve — iteration count, compliance, volume fraction and density change are shown live in the status bar
- Drag the Threshold slider to explore which voxels carry the most load (B&W Gradient distribution)
- Click Generate Mesh to extract a clean isosurface from the density field
Roles
| Role | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Boundary Domain | The design space to generate the solution within. Set target volume fraction, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio. |
| Load | Voxels here receive the applied force. Set direction vector and total force (kN). |
| Support | Fixed boundary condition (Dirichlet). |
| Property Region | (Optional) Pin voxels to a fixed density — solid (1.0) or void (0.0). |
Solver Parameters
| Parameter | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SIMP Penalty | 3.0 |
Higher values push densities toward 0 or 1 for crisper results |
| Filter Radius | 1.5 |
Sensitivity smoothing — increase if results look noisy |
| Max Iterations | 80 |
Hard stop if convergence isn't reached |
| Convergence Tol | 0.01 |
Stops when max density change drops below this |
| Iter Timeout | 30 |
Cancels if a single iteration takes too long |
| OC Move Limit | 0.2 |
Max density change per step, lower is more stable |
scipy and MarchingNumPy are bundled inside the package. Inspired by TopOpt_teach.
What's New
0.4.3 May 27th, 2026
Add Mac OS package
Nice! A good tool for early-stage form-finding :D