SimplyNURBS: a software library to model NURBS for medical applications

Custom-fit products, such as artificial prostheses, often require the development of hoc modeling tools and procedures. In such a context, this paper describes an open source library, named SimplyNURBS, developed for NURBS modeling in medical and health-care domains. This new suite makes available a development kit that integrates the key features of existing open source libraries and new ones to fulfill the requirements of the considered domain. First, the paper introduces the library requirements with particular attention to the prosthetic field as well as pros and cons of current NURBS modeling libraries (both commercial and open sources). Then, the software architecture of SimplyNURBS and the basic libraries (e.g., OPENCASCADE and NURBS++) used for its implementation are illustrated enhancing differences and improvements. Finally, a socket modeling tool, named Virtual Socket Laboratory (VSL) developed using SimplyNURBS is described as well as results of tests carried out to evaluate the new system performances.