Orthoses, prosthetic sockets, surgical guides, and implant prototypes are all shaped by anatomy, not by what a slicer finds convenient. Flat layers on organic surfaces mean stair-stepping, weak interlayer bonds along load paths, and post-processing that defeats the point of printing in the first place.
Patient-specific devices have complex, organic geometries derived from CT or MRI scans. Standard planar slicers treat these freeform shapes the same way they treat a calibration cube: uniform flat layers, support structures wherever overhangs appear, and stair-step artifacts on every curved surface.
For flexible materials like TPU and silicone, the problem compounds. Layer adhesion is weaker in elastomers, so interlayer bonds become the failure mode. When layers run perpendicular to the load — which planar slicing almost guarantees on curved anatomy — the device tears along layer lines instead of stretching as designed.
Layers follow the body contour instead of cutting through it. Smoother surface finish, better skin contact, fewer supports on organic shapes.
Path planning tuned for TPU, TPE, and other elastomers with controlled stretch, correct retraction, and layer bonds aligned to the load direction.
Ingest STL meshes derived from medical imaging. The slicer handles the freeform geometry without requiring manual mesh cleanup or re-modelling.
Multi-axis orientation and non-planar paths eliminate most supports on anatomical shapes, removing post-processing that risks damaging the device.
Different regions of the device can have different infill density and wall thickness, stiffer where load-bearing and softer where conformity matters.
Same scan, same parameters, same part. Traceable process logs for every device, ready for quality documentation.
Medical devices are the canonical case for non-planar slicing: every part is unique, the geometry is freeform, and surface quality directly affects function. The same region decomposition and strategy-selection pipeline that handles industrial metal parts handles an orthosis. Segment the geometry, pick the right approach per region, emit the toolpath. The process changes; the slicer's job doesn't.
Send us a scan-derived STL and the material. We'll show you what conformal, non-planar slicing produces.