Developing an Accessible 3D Printing Pipeline.

Abstract

Digital technology provides an opportunity for people with disabilities to be involved in artistic activities, such as virtual sculpting whose output can be fabricated using 3D printing. Existing accessible solutions, however, present mainly a set of separate tools rather than a whole cohesive production pipeline which takes into an account the specific needs of the user group. Challenges include accessible user interfaces for all pipeline steps, suitable shape modelling operations, ”3D Print” button and model data formats that require no post-processing or clean-up operations for the Direct Fabrication step. In this paper we discuss an accessible pipeline which includes 3D modelling and 3D printing, providing an example of a 3D modelling system with developed special-purpose applications allowing children with complex disabilities to participate in sculpting activities through accessible interfaces such as eye-gaze control.