Exposure Setting Explorer¶
Learning Objective¶
Students demonstrate the relationship between exposure time and layer cure depth/bleed by adjusting a slider and observing cross-section changes in a simulated layer.
- Bloom Level: Apply (L3)
- Bloom Verb: Demonstrate
- Library: p5.js
Preview¶
Specification¶
The full specification below is extracted from Chapter 10: Resin Printing: SLA, MSLA, and DLP.
Type: microsim
**sim-id:** resin-exposure-explorer<br/>
**Library:** p5.js<br/>
**Status:** Specified
Bloom Level: Apply (L3)
Bloom Verb: Demonstrate
Learning Objective: Students demonstrate the relationship between exposure time and layer cure depth/bleed by adjusting a slider and observing cross-section changes in a simulated layer.
Canvas layout:
- Top (80px): Two sliders — "Normal Layer Exposure (s)" range 0.5–6.0, and "Bottom Layer Exposure (s)" range 5–80
- Center (300px): Cross-section view of a resin layer being cured:
- Shows LCD pixel column (light blue = UV passing through)
- Shows resin layer as a horizontal rectangle
- Shows cured zone expanding downward and outward as exposure increases
- Annotates cure depth and bleed width in mm
- Bottom (100px): Status indicators: "Under-cured / Optimal / Over-cured" with color coding, plus dimensional error estimate for bottom layer elephant's foot
Visual elements:
- UV rays shown as short yellow vertical lines from LCD to resin surface
- Cured resin shown in a darker teal color filling from the top of the layer down to cure depth
- If over-exposed, cured zone bleeds sideways past the pixel boundary (shown in orange)
- Target cross-section outline shown in dashed line for reference
- Real-time label: "Cure depth: X µm, Bleed: Y µm"
Interactive controls:
- Normal exposure slider (primary)
- Bottom exposure slider
- Toggle: "Show bottom layer / normal layer" switches which scenario is visualized
- Button: "What happens to my print?" — shows a simplified cross-section of the base of a print using the current settings
Default parameters:
- Normal exposure: 2.0 s
- Bottom exposure: 30 s
Instructional Rationale: Parameter exploration is appropriate for Apply-level objectives. Students need to build physical intuition for how over- and under-exposure manifest in the printed part — this is difficult to convey through prose alone.
Responsive: scales to container; minimum 320px.