A Real Life 3D Experience

Contributed by Linda Lokay, VP Marketing and Business Development

It is so exciting to talk with people when they have an experience that lets them finally understand what you do. Today was one of those days. My husband, a musician, had to go to the orthopedist to be fitted for orthotics. His doctor gave him special socks to wear and explained how he was going to record his movement as he walked and ran. He got to see images of his feet in motion and was shown how all of this would be sent through a program to analyze his gait and finally with a press of a button, his orthotics would be made, right there in the same office! 

When my husband came home he was so excited to tell me about this amazing process and how this doctor, who built this system himself, must have something revolutionary. He asked me what seemed like a million questions about how someone could make a sock to gather information and then produce the final product with one click of a button. In fact, he said it reminded him of being able to print, but it was 3D.

For those who are familiar with the technologies, the story is not so surprising. Scans producing point cloud data are sent into specialized analysis programs, files are saved and the results are sent to a 3D printer. To be able to explain how one can go from a set of what seemed to be random points on a screen to produce custom orthotics gave me the perfect opportunity to explain how different components (point clouds, modeling/analysis engines, data exchange, etc) are all brought together by a very creative individual, to be able to create custom solutions for every patient. After many years and too many technical ways of trying to explain what Spatial does, all it took was one very personal experience and he FINALLY got it!

I would love to hear other stories about when or how your friends, family, or associates really grasped what you do.

Do you have a real life 3D Experience?