The open-source 3D software for P&O now exists

In this contemporary scenario of a global population growing more and more health care is going to be one of the main challenges of our future: according to 2018 GDR research, the global prosthetics and orthotics market size is expected to reach USD 12.28 billion by 2025.

WASP for the Healthcare

Since the beginning WASP considers health one of its main themes of research, as one of the man’s basic needs. For this reason in 2015 WASP MED team was born, working specifically on the needs of this huge field. The development of the 3D printers and materials for medical use it’s not enough if doctors and professionals don’t have tools to apply their knowledge. To face this need WASP MED developed an Add-on for Blender, the popular open-source 3D software: WASP MED Add-on Blender 2.8.

The idea is to fill that gap between professional software, often very expensive and rigid, and open-source software, which are powerful but not specifically designed for medical use. The development has been carried out by Prof. Alessandro Zomparelli, teacher at Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna and Blender developer since years. His previous works on shaping objects based on the human body has been the key to get a powerful tool for designing easily complex shapes on 3D scans.

Why Blender?

Blender is a perfect manifesto of an open-source platform that escalated to be one of the best products for 3D modeling in the world of animation and not only. Each year in Amsterdam is organized a Blender Conference. Here the most innovative applications of the software are presented and shared: from physical simulations to medical tools, covering a wide range of professional and non-professional uses. Blender 2.8 is an open-source software: it is downloadable for free and its development is shared with hundreds of users around the globe.

What’s WASP MED Add-on Blender 2.8?

It’s a free Add-on that runs on Blender 2.8 and contains step-by-step commands to model a shape on a 3D scan. The final shape is suitable for being 3D printed, compatible with the 3D printer.

The Add-on feature tools for:

fixing the scan

making corrections and modifications

cropping undesired parts

drawing the shape of the orthoses

managing thicknesses and borders

exporting the mesh for 3D printing

The Add-on also gives freedom of intervention with all native Blender tools to solve more complex necessities.

The future of the Add-on

WASP imagines this as a first step to create a collaborative community around the world using open tools to give solution to main health themes. This could give access to a huge amount of the world’s population to medical devices that now cannot afford or don’t even exist in their country.

The 3D printer for Orthopedy

In the medical sector, innovation is the key to advance the health care. WASP MED for years has worked not only to the development of this new open source 3D modeling software, but also to design and build customizable 3D printers for the orthopedic sector. The DELTA WASP 4070 Industrial 4.0 printer is the most performing printer model, adaptable to the professionals individual’s needs for the development of medical devices.