Introduction
This extension for 3D Slicer creates a full-color image stack suitable for bitmap-based multimaterial 3D printing. In contrast to traditional 3D printing methods, this new technique does not require image segmentation (which is a difficult and labor-intensive processing step) and produces highly detailed physical models.
More info:
- Hosny et al., "From Improved Diagnostics to Presurgical Planning: High-Resolution Functionally Graded Multimaterial 3D Printing of Biomedical Tomographic Data Sets", 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing VOL. 5, NO. 2, 2018 reference / full text
- Article in Science Daily
- Discussion
Caveats
Please note:
- this process is only compatible with a limited range of newer printers and not traditional filament-based printers. See the paper for more detail about the printers for which ths approach has been used.
- the developers of SlicerFab are affiliated with any printer company so we don't know the details about what printers may or may not support SlicerFab now or in the future.
- some of the steps in this printing process require custom python coding to convert the generated bitmaps into files compatible with particular printers.
- we hope to provide more details on workflows that are known to generate prints as we gain experience with compatible printers.
This is meant to be a community effort - if you have experience with this kind of printers please share!
Process
Turns this:
Into this:
Usage
- Install a recent nightly version of 3D Slicer
- Start Slicer, open Extension Manager, and install SlicerFab extension
- Load data and set up Volume Rendering (see docs and examples at slicer.org
- Select the BitmapGenerator module
- Set the output path (/tmp by default, for windows change to c:/TEMP or something)
- Click Apply and let the slices get generated.
Any questions? Post it on SlicerFab discussion in Slicer forum
Work in Progress - Please use with caution and add improvements if you can.