Alessia Romani

Design & Engineering Research

3D Printable Designs for Alternatives to Stained Glass


Application repository (Customized stained glass alternative)





Overview

This open-source product repository presents the demonstrative application of 3D-printed customized polycarbonate stained-glass alternatives for potential energy and cost savings within distributed manufacturing contexts. As substitutes for traditional stained glass and retrofit options, it collects the pattern designs, 3D models, 3D printed parts, and evaluations to assess quality construction, optical performance, and economical analysis of this application. These application models demonstrate the feasibility of using customized 3D printed stained glass alternatives for distributed manufacturing of customizable stained-glass-like modules for energy and cost efficient window retrofits, with applications in the building and heritage sectors. 1

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Licenses:



Materials and Tools

  • ⚙️ 2D patterns: GIMP (raster image elaboration) 2 , Inkscape (vector image elaboration) 3 , Adobe Fresco (digital image painting) 4 .
  • ⚙️ 3D modeling: PrusaSlicer (mesh conversion of the vector and raster images) 5
  • 🔩 Slicing and fabrication: PrusaSlicer, Large-format Fused Filament Fabrication 3D Printer (PC patterns).
  • 📎 Materials: PC tested for the product applications, both for the 3D printed pattern and the transparent substrate for the window retrofit.
  • 🖌️ Additional steps: Manual acrylic painting (coloring), Spectroscopy and visual image analysis with ImageJ 6 (optical performances).


Repository website



Publications


Design of Alternatives to Stained Glass with Open-Source Distributed Additive Manufacturing for Energy Efficiency and Economic Savings


Emily Bow Pearce, Joshua M. Pearce, Alessia Romani*

Designs, vol. 9(4), 2025 Jun, p. 80