![]() To our knowledge, no other previous study on this subject has been performed so far. We set aside about $2500 to buy the software and hardware needed to create 3D objects with a low-budget workflow this cost reflects the one of a “state of the art” 3D printer for consumer use (not for professional use) plus the elaboration software. Our aim is to determine whether the accuracy of 3D printing process is affected by the use of a low-budget workflow based on open source software and consumer’s commercially available 3D printers. The broad availability of cheap 3D printing equipment has raised the need for thorough analysis on its effects on clinical accuracy. Nonetheless, we believe it is going to rapidly spread to smaller hospitals thanks to printing solutions which can fit every budget. Nowadays, the use of 3D printing technology is still often limited to academic settings. Converting an image into a physical object has several advantages in the medical fields: it helps the surgeon simulating and planning the intervention it simplifies fracture classification and prosthesis design it allows a preoperative selection of orthopedic metal hardware and it helps the physician communicating with the patients. MRI datasets are instead more difficult to manipulate (since they lack of proper standardization and calibration concerning the presentation of measured voxel values) and their use is more limited. This allows an easy isolation of bone or contrast-filled vascular structures to produce 3D replicas of fractures or aneurisms. Both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) datasets can be converted into 3D objects, the use of CT datasets being the most diffuse thanks to the Hounsfield units that simplifies the segmentation process. The 3D printing spread drew the attention of medical professionals in order to convert imaging datasets into 3D objects. Layer after layer the entire object is manufactured. ![]() Once one layer is deposed and solidified, another one is added on the top of it. Nozzles function as glue guns melting the plastic material and placing the drops in the right order to build every layer. Several materials can be used but acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA) are the most frequently used. Every layer is produced by deposing fused material in small drops released by the printer’s nozzle. This process produces 3D objects by adding layers of material one upon the other. ![]() Nowadays, the vast majority of consumer’s commercially available 3D printers uses a fused deposition modeling (FDM) process. Several different manufacturing processes have been developed during the years: stereolitography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), plaster-based 3D printing (PP), electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF), and laminated object manufacturing (LOM). 3D printing has been progressively made available to consumer users thanks to a reduction in the cost of 3D printers and print materials but also thanks to the development of simple, object-oriented, print software. Nonetheless, the situation has deeply changed over the last years. ![]() For a long time, these techniques have been used only in design and in industrial professional settings to build prototypes or mechanical parts. If you answer, please assume that I know nothing about CAD or Blender and tell me where to find the tools I’m looking for, if they are available.Rapid manufacturing or three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies consist of a group of techniques-developed since the late 1980s-aimed at producing 3D objects. This applies to the output stl, not just the image visible in Blender. I am wondering if there is a simple way to smooth the model so that the flat faces will not be visible in the finished product?Ĭan I increase resolution somewhere or interpolate between the faces or something? I want to make it look more natural with no straight lines visible to the eye. The terrain model is now made of millions of tiny triangles, which are visible when I zoom in with an stl viewer. I have triangulated it and then exported as an stl file for machining. I have imported a digital terrain model/map into Blender as a shapefile. I am using Blender to covert a 3d map from shapefile format to stl format for physical machining. I am a complete CAD Blender novice and not very computer literate so please bear that in mind if answering. ![]()
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