How to Analyze Thickness on Anatomical Models in Materialise 3-matic

Loading the project:

1. Drag and drop your project from your files into Mimics Core to open it.

Segmenting the skull and calculating a 3D mesh:

1. Navigate to the Segment tab and click the New Mask tool.
2. Activate the 3D preview via the green cube icon on the right-hand side.
3. Check the Limit number of shells box and enter 1 under Largest shells to keep.
4. Click once on the mask in the Objects panel to rename it.
5. Navigate to the Calculate section of the Segment tab and click Part.
6. Click OK to generate a 3D mesh from the 2D mask.

Moving to 3-matic and trimming the model:

1. Ensure your model is selected in the Object list, then press Ctrl + C.
2. Press Ctrl + V to paste the project into 3-matic.
3. Change the view to the Front via the viewing cube in the bottom right.
4. Navigate to the Finish menu and select the Trim tool.
5. Click and draw points around the area of the model you'd like to remove.
6. Select the model in the Object Tree and select Remove inner in the Operations panel.
7. Click apply.

Analyzing wall thickness:

1. Navigate to the Analyze menu and select Wall Thickness.
2. Select the model in the Object Tree panel.
3. Use the ruler in the work area to estimate the maximum wall thickness.
4. Set the Maximum wall thickness, then hit Apply to generate a heat map.

Measuring thickness locally:

1. Navigate to the Analyze menu and select Measure Analysis Locally.
2. Move your mouse around the model to inspect specific areas. Note that any areas exceeding the defined maximum will only show the maximum value.

Discretizing thickness into color bands:

1. Navigate to the Analyze menu and select Segmentation.
2. Select the model in the Object Tree panel, then hit the + button next to your model to reveal more options. Choose Analysis List.
3. Observe that the colors are now discretized, meaning each color represents a specific range of thickness.
4. Adjust the range by changing the number in the Bands field under the Operations panel.
5. Click Apply.

Exporting for printing:

1. Navigate to the File menu and select Export.
2. Select the proper file type.