Using 3DSlicer, Z-Brush, and Slic3r to Turn CAT Scans Into Kidney 3D-Prints | #3DThursday #3Dprinting
Not that you want to visit the hospital or get a CAT scan anytime soon but if you do, this is something to consider to do with the data created from the scan, using various digital tools that each serve a purpose towards a final goal of non-functional 3D-printed kidneys:
What a CAT scan machine does is take an X-ray while moving the patient (me) and rotating the x-ray aperture (emitter) and corresponding sensors. The procedure took a couple of minutes, and the result was thousands of individual x-ray image “slices” from all different angles. Using clever maths, it’s possible to use those shots from multiple angles to determine the density of whatever is being imaged. In this case, it was my abdomen and kidneys. The darker areas shows are areas that did not absorb much radiation: skin, muscle, fat, etc. The lighter areas are areas that bounced back much of the radiation, namely my organs and bones.
The CT tech’s computer takes all of these individual slices, stitches them together, and creates a 3D model that they can analyze, and view in both 3D and 2D. The 2D slices generally correspond to the 3 planes of the body, Sagittal, Coronal, and Transverse, planes. Through these planes, they can pan back and forth through the body.
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