When I finally sat down to follow the tutorial, I found that it left out some crucial steps and required a lot of manual editing. My computer was being serviced so I bookmarked the page and waited until I got my laptop back. The neuroscientist and cheapskate in me rejoiced. Then, a few weeks ago, I came across this blog post that included do-it-yourself instructions for creating a 3D model of your brain for 3D printing.
I was tempted to order a model, but I finally decided that it was too expensive. I considered using a modeling software (like Blender) to create my own 3D brain model based on my MRI scans, but I quickly abandoned that idea when I imagined manually outlining the cortex one slice at a time.Ī few months ago, one of my friends posted a link to a company that sells custom brain models that range from $165.00 (for half scale models) to $342.00 (for full scale models). I have a deep fascination of the human brain and I’ve wanted a 3D model of my brain for quite some time. I wrote a step-by-step tutorial of what I did below in case you want to print your brain too.Īnd if you want a brain on your desk and you don’t care whose it is, you can order a 3D model of my brain here. The whole process was relatively straight forward once I figured out the best program to use. My little brain arrived a few days ago and I’m blown away by how good it turned out. I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but I think this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. A few weeks ago, I made a 3D model of my brain and sent it to Shapeways to get 3D printed.