2.5D (machining)

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In machining, 2.5D refers to a surface which is a projection of a plane into 3rd dimension - although the object is 3-dimensional, there are no overhanging elements possible. Objects of this type are often represented as a contour map that gives the height (thickness, depth, etc) of the object at each point.

2.5D objects are often greatly preferred for machining, as it is easy to generate g-code for them in an efficient, often close to optimal fashion, while optimal cutting tool paths for true 3-dimensional objects can be NP-complete, although many algorithms exist.

2.5D objects can be machined on a 3-axis milling machine, and do not require any the features of a higher-axis machine to produce.

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