Fill volume algorithm

Question

I have a Box with some dimension length, width, height.

I have items with different length, width, height.

Is there an existing algorithm that can determine the best items to use to put inside the box?

Answer 1

This is called a Bin Packing/Cutting Stock/Knapsack problem, and it is NP hard. In general you can only get an approximate solution by using heuristics, see for example

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapsack_problem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_packing_problem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_stock_problem