Jan 26, 2016 | By Kira
Anyone who’s taken a high school biology class probably remembers spending hours studying highly detailed yet confusing human anatomy diagrams, trying to figure out whether the submandibular gland connects to the parotid duct, and what either of them have to do with our digestive system. Yet just imagine how much easier it would be to understand the digestive system, organ functions, or even human cells, if they were represented by tangible, 3D printed models.
To put this theory to the test and hopefully get more students engaged in their biology lessons, a biology teacher and member of NVBot’s 3D printing platform for educators contracted industrial designer and 3D modeler Jordan Pelovitz to design and 3D print a realistic human anatomy model that students could interact with and directly learn from. As part of the requirements, Pelovitz had to design a model that would demonstrate how various human anatomy systems relate.
The result is an entirely 3D printed human body ‘puzzle’ that includes everything from organs to various representations of bones, bone tissue and muscle cells.
“This project was requested by a biology teacher using NVBot’s Platform,” said Pelovitz, whose experience in 3D modeling and 3D printing spans over 10 years. “It was necessary to break up the organism model into individual pieces to fit on the print bed. I was asked to build two organ systems and I chose to model the digestive system and part of the skeletal system.”
For the 3D printed digestive system, Pelovitz included the large and small intestines, liver and stomach, and designed them all so they could be ‘assembled’ inside a human dummy model. The 3D printed skeletal system represents a portion of the human leg and includes a 3D printed femur model.
Aside from just 3D printing the main organs or bones, Pelovtiz’s detailed 3D printed anatomy models actually show the differences between smooth muscle cells and smooth muscle tissue, as well as bone tissue and osteoblast.
“The most challenging part of the spec was how the final product was described as a ‘3D puzzle,’ this meant that every piece had to somehow nest for fit into each other.”
In order to accomplish this ‘3D puzzle,’ Pelovitz 3D printed several prototypes at several scale percentages in order to gauge how big or small they could be made. The final models were designed “around a relative scale, where the tolerances are designed to hold out until the part gets too small/the print resolution gets too high.”
Pelovitz, based in Boston, MA, has a background in both industrial design and new media design, and currently offers courses in 3D modeling for product design and 3D modeling for games. “One of the most interesting topics in 3D printing today is where it can be used as a final manufacturing method in addition to prototyping,” he said. Indeed, we've seen quite a few 3D printed medical models used by surgeons and doctors to practice complex surgeries, however Pelovitz' 3D printed anatomy models also show how 3D printing can be used in real-life, educational purposes by students of all levels.
Posted in 3D Design
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So where can we get these models to print them ourselves?
fathiak20 wrote at 2/1/2016 4:55:02 AM:
it is very interesting. human body as a system that has input and output . and the output of the degistive system is the energy in different forms.some of the today world emissions gas form human body for 24 hours is a one of the major problems. in crowded city. the rate of gas products by human is dependent on population in the cities .this case should be measured and analysis. the food and claimants and land and type of work that people in the specific city are doing are some of the elements that should be studying.
Jim wrote at 1/27/2016 2:57:59 PM:
Really Great Work! I can't imagine the work that went into making these files printable. Wonderful that you have made models that are accessible beyond just hospitals.
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