The Fraunhofer IGD is showcasing two innovations for industrial 3D printing at Formnext (November 18–21, Frankfurt). First, the multi-material software Cuttlefish is receiving a module called Cuttlefish::Proof that provides a physically accurate soft-proof preview. Second, the researchers are presenting a monolithic dental model produced by multi-material jetting whose internal optical structure replicates enamel, dentin, and root.
Cuttlefish® controls multi-material printers on a voxel level independently of the manufacturer and reproduces shape, color, and translucency with color fidelity. The new plugin does not render on idealized CAD data but on the material distributions already sliced by Cuttlefish. This makes it possible to preview color impressions, translucency, and light behavior under defined illuminations; at the same time, displacement effects, boolean operations, and possible voxelization artifacts become visible.
“This helps avoid misprints that would otherwise result from incorrect parameters or faulty data preparation. Users can see in advance what the printed part will actually look like and make adjustments before time and material flow into production,” explains Dr. Philipp Urban, Head of the “3D Printing Technology” department at Fraunhofer IGD.
For dental technology, the IGD is presenting a biomimetic workflow that uses AI to calculate the material mixtures for each tooth layer. Multi-material jetting produces monolithic prostheses whose layer structure imitates the optical response of natural teeth. Dental technicians can specifically adjust the translucency of individual layers without shifting the hue. According to the institute, color accuracies within industry-accepted limits are achievable (CIEDE2000 < 1.5); production costs can also be significantly reduced compared to conventional processes. The process is compatible with common dental CAD, and slicing is performed in Cuttlefish.
Both contributions address the same goal: valid predictions and reproducible results in color and multi-material printing. With voxel-based soft proof and an application-oriented dental workflow, robust quality control moves closer to the actual printing process.
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