Introducing Simpleware Version 2016.09

Integrating +CAD with ScanIP

This landmark change to how people use Simpleware removes the need to work on CAD or STL data in a separate software environment from ScanIP. The aim is to markedly simplify workflows using data such as medical implants and devices. New ‘Surface’ based tools are also now available for manipulating CAD/STL models prior to export to FE and CFD.

With the new +CAD module in ScanIP, you can now import STL/CAD files directly to ScanIP to become Surface objects; new tools also enable extensive processing of Surface objects, including Booleans, ‘Check and fix’, surface scaling/positioning and grouping/ungrouping options. STL fixing tools for non-manifold or self-intersecting surfaces are now available, as are digital resurfacing options for poor surface triangulation. Feature detection tools for automatically estimating the ideal minimum feature size to preserve are also available.

How you'll benefit

• More accuracy when working with different file types, and an easier experience overall when combining CAD and images, for example when integrating medical device models into anatomical data
• Building high-quality 3D models is straightforward, continuing our commitment to a user-friendly but still highly customizable experience in Simpleware

New Paint Tool Options in ScanIP

Manually segmenting complex 3D images is often a challenging and time-consuming process. We have recognized this problem with new Propagate slice and Interpolate slice tools – these are used to directly copy to the next slice or any number of slices forwards or backwards, with the Propagate option able to automatically adjust to changes in image data.

How you'll benefit

• Save time when working on image data by skipping slices and using Interpolate to fill in missing sections
• Speed up and improve manual segmentation of low contrast medical image data
• Easily replace sections of bone affected by metal artefacts

Multi-Label Masks

The new multi-label tools in 2016.09 simplify analysis of image data with many unique regions. This ease-of-use is enhanced through a mask label editor and the ability to export statistics from masks to CSV files, as well as performance improvements compared to saving regions as separate masks.

How you'll benefit

• Efficiently store thousands of individual regions as labels within a single mask
• Easily quantify and visualize pores and particles
• Customize the mask editor visualization settings based on statistics

Reporting & Quick-Line Statistics

If you want to quickly and conveniently obtain statistics from your image data, then the new Reports tool in ScanIP will make this easier than ever before in our software. The Reports feature can generate statistics for particles in a mask or labeled pores and throats in a multi-label mask, and complements new quick line statistics that access statistics from measurements made at regular intervals along a centerline network. Obtain histograms of metrics and export reports to PDF, HTML or the clipboard.

How you'll benefit

• Quick Line Statistics now supports many more metrics to enhance what information you can obtain, for example characterizing blood vessels and airways, or flow through pores in material samples
• Quantifying materials and image data is straightforward

Meshing Improvements

We are proud of the quality of the meshes you can create in our +FE Module for export to simulation packages. In version 2016.09, we have taken the functionality of +FE another step forward by supporting the meshing of Surface objects from CAD/STL imports, with models able to support any combination of Mask and Surface objects. There is also a new and improved mesh settings layout featuring per-part mesh settings.

How you'll benefit

• More flexibility for how you mesh your model, including options to automatically fit clipping planes for CFD, reducing time and effort involved in setting up boundary faces for complex fluid domains in medical applications
• Faster processing and lower memory usage than previous versions of +FE

Additional Changes

As well as the above features, we have increased functionality and accessibility across the ScanIP interface, ranging from:

• An updated user interface and theme, with a cleaner design for the Dataset browser
• New Boolean operations
• New 'fill gaps' between mask tools
• New 1D and 2D model options for the Physics Modules to extract effective parameters: reduce memory usage and solving time; optimise boundary conditions; tailor outputs to 1D, 2D and 3D model cases
• New Orientation widgets in 3D to better understand model direction
• Up to a 60% increase in speed over Simpleware version 7.0 for loading project files, and up to a 40% increase for saving project files

Why Upgrade?

If you are already using our software, upgrading to version 2016.09 will allow you to carry out regular image segmentation and analysis tools much more easily and efficiently. The new tools also give you many more options to quickly work with and get the information you need from complex datasets. In addition, if you already have our +CAD Module, then the integration with ScanIP will significantly improve your current workflows.