Posted by
Kenneth Sloan-2 on
Feb 20, 2017; 3:51pm
URL: http://imagej.273.s1.nabble.com/Scanning-electron-microscope-image-to-3D-print-tp5018138p5018146.html
First - there are many styles of "3D print". Either a single image, you an
treat the image as a height map. I have produced many of these.
You can also produce a solid from a single image by thresholding ( or
otherwise segmenting) and layering this on a solid base (another image with
a constant value)
Second - making a stack out of several (aligned) images is easy. If you are
stuck st this point, you need to concentrate on that problem before
considering 3D printing.
Third - the comments about topology are spot on. You need a connected,
manifold mesh. When I last checked, the standard ImageJ tools will produce
a mesh, but do not guarantee that the mesh is manifold. I ended up writing
a plugin to enforce this. There are also mesh-processing programs that can
help, but I found that the good ones were expensive and the free ones were
clunky and not very good.
I recently retired, but before that I taught 3D printing and ran a small 3D
print facility. One if the first exercises for students was to produce a
solid object from a single image (treating it as a height map). But - you
won't find this as a standard ImageJ tool.
On Mon, Feb 20, 2017 at 09:29 Robert Baer <
[hidden email]> wrote:
> On 2/18/2017 10:30 AM, Duleep Samuel wrote:
> > Respected Imagej Researchers. I want to make a 3D print. Can I directly
> > convert a single image to *.STL and print.
> No, not if by single image you mean a 2 dimensional image. If you mean
> a single file, and you have the equivalent of an image stack, maybe.
>
> > Or do I need an Image stack for
> > 3D printing . I am confused on how to make an image stack using SEM.
> This depends entirely on the format in which the SEM information was
> saved. Your first task will be to learn about the format. Was it a
> stack of images in a .tiff container or some other 3D container? If you
> have a folder of single 2D images at different z-depths (penetration
> depths) you can combine them into a stack inside imageJ. You will need
> to know the relative spacing of these images to get a decent printable
> 3D result.
>
> With all that said, when you print, you need a surface mesh with minimum
> holes. This may mean that you have to do some significant re-topology
> work on the results of your image stack to get something that is
> printable in the physical world. This is unlikely to be a simple scan
> and print process.
>
> > With
> > regards Samuel IIHR Bangalore, India
> >
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>
>
> --
> Robert W. Baer, Ph.D.
> Professor of Physiology
> Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine
> A T Still University of Health Sciences
> 800 W. Jefferson St
> Kirksville, MO 63501
> 660-626-2321 Department
> 660-626-2965 FAX
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