Fraunhofer IGD
Mimaki Cuttlefish
Printed part enabled by Mimaki's 3DUJ-553 full-colour system and Fraunhofer IGD's Cuttlefish software.
Mimaki’s full-colour 3D printing technology will now be supported by Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research’s (IGD) Cuttlefish software.
Cuttlefish is a 3D printer driver which enables users to overlap and embed 3D models with different colour and translucency textures to achieve increased detail and realism in printed parts. The software is also supported by Stratasys J750 full-colour platform and has been leveraged by LAIKA to support its work on the Missing Link and Kubo and the Two Strings movies, in which more than 160,000 character faces were printed in full colour.
Now teaming with Mimaki, the Cuttlefish team has adapted the software to the specific features of the Mimaki 3DUJ-553 and developed an ‘appropriately calibrated’ colour profile which includes transparency capabilities. Users of the Mimaki platform will be able to use Cuttlefish to translate 3D scan data and 3D models, reproduce the geometry, colours and fine colour transitions of the original and simulate the finished product on the screen before the print takes place. “The combination of 3DUJ-553 and Cuttlefish will greatly expand the possibilities of full colour 3D printing, which is something we will continue to support,” says Masakatsu Okawa, Mimaki’s General Manager of 3D Project Research and Development.
Fraunhofer IGD
Mimaki Cuttlefish
Partially translucent 3D anatomical models printed on a Mimaki 3DUJ-553 using Fraunhofer’s Cuttlefish driver.
Cuttlefish’s support of RGBA textures containing both colour and translucency information facilitates the printing of parts that are semi or fully transparent. 3D models based on RGBA data are supported by standard 3D file formats and most design and texturing tools, as well as image processing programmes like Adobe Photoshop.
The partners believe this will enable adoption in professional spaces like the medical industry. A sample 3D anatomical model printed on the Mimaki 3DUJ-553 featured 28 total parts, each with a different material described by 425-megapixel colour textures. The transparent parts of the model (right) were generated by simple modifications to the RGBA data, per Fraunhofer IGD.
