Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: 3D Binpacking Algorithm Visualized

skusavvy.com

1–10 of 18 posts

Re: Show HN: 3D Binpacking Algorithm Visualized

#4
post #2

Looks like an implementation of: https://github.com/davidmchapman/3DContainerPacking

From this repository:

A 3D bin packing algorithm originally ported from https://github.com/keremdemirer/3dbinpackingjs, which itself was a JavaScript port of https://github.com/wknechtel/3d-bin-pack/, which is a C reconstruction of a novel algorithm developed in a U.S. Air Force master's thesis by Erhan Baltacioglu in 2001.

Re: Show HN: 3D Binpacking Algorithm Visualized

#5

On my phone, there seems to be a float issue where the boxes are too close together and they draw out of order.

yeah the issue is on desktop too, I battled with it for awhile but ultimately gave up, it seems to be a notoriously difficult problem to solve with ThreeJS

https://discourse.threejs.org/t/threejs-and-the-transparent-...

Re: Show HN: 3D Binpacking Algorithm Visualized

#8
I once had to work on code to do this[2] (place had different sized boxes for shipping, they wanted them used efficiently) which had its own extra constraints (certain items had to be on top, in specific rotations; etc.) but that was based on [1]. Maybe it would have been easier using the EB-AFIT algorithm.

[1] Optimizing Three-Dimensional Bin Packing Through Simulation, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228974015_Optimizin...

[2] It was not a fun time because there was no pipeline from the product database to this service which meant it was frequently out of date re: dimensions, weight, packing position requirements, etc. which drove the warehouse packers mad but after three months of my asking for, if nothing else, a daily CSV download being rebuffed, I quit.

Re: Show HN: 3D Binpacking Algorithm Visualized

#10

I once had to work on code to do this[2] (place had different sized boxes for shipping, they wanted them used efficiently) which had its own extra constraints (certain items had to be on top, in specific rotations; etc.) but that was based on [1]. Maybe it would have been easier using the EB-AFIT algorithm. [1] Optimizing Three-Dimensional Bin Packing Through Simulation, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/22897…

Worked on something similar, with similar constraints as to products not being able to be placed freely, for instance something heavy could crush something brittle. Also, dimension data is forever a problem. Additionally, that data doesn't reflect reality even when it's fairly accurate, since things are seldom perfect cuboids. So assuming that leaves lot of unused room in reality = not optimal. For instance something in a similar packaging to a bag of ships or dog food, is thinner in the ends than in the middle, and possibly malleable in shape.

Also a real life constraint is that it has to be possible to actually pack. Expecting a packer to follow complicated instructions to a T for it to work, or else it wont fit, will never work. Additionally, things can arrive in a certain order, which needs to be accounted for if packing should happen before all items are ready.

I think it's a cool problem to work on. So much to think about outside just the algorithmic perfect world scenario.

Post reply on HN