Stop-motion studio LAIKA has signed an agreement with Prague-based software developer Additive Appearance to add the PrismSlicer renderer to the 3D printing tools available to its artists. The software is designed to estimate color and translucency in a PolyJet print before the part is produced, with the goal of making the printed object match the digital design more predictably.
The deal addresses a persistent issue in full-color 3D printing: colors and appearance seen on screen do not always carry over to the printed part, and every mismatch can require another print. LAIKA produces hundreds of thousands of detailed faces for each film, so reducing extra print rounds could affect both production time and quality assurance.
Previewing appearance under studio lighting
PrismSlicer generates an initial preview of a model's color, translucency and surface appearance before printing. It can also simulate how a part will look under LAIKA's custom studio lighting environments, with the aim of cutting the number of print iterations.
Robert Ducey, technical supervisor at LAIKA, said the software has the potential to give artists predictive previews of digital designs in the studio's lighting environments. He described this as a crucial advance that could allow faster iterations when developing assets for full-color 3D printing, adding that reliable, fast renders could significantly reduce development time. The article reports initial projections that the visualizations could lower print iterations and improve artist satisfaction through quicker feedback; these are projected benefits, not confirmed results.
Seven-month trial and research roots
The project includes a seven-month trial against production criteria, during which PrismSlicer gained a command-line interface to support automation. Its simulation backend also received new features intended to make renders more realistic. The stated target is a predictable match between on-screen designs and printed parts.
Additive Appearance is a spin-off of Charles University in Prague, and its team consists of engineers and researchers. The partnership with LAIKA builds on years of joint development and material research with the university's Computer Graphics Group. That work addresses two problems: optically measuring materials used in PolyJet 3D printing and precisely matching photographs to renderings.
Tobias Rittig, CTO at Additive Appearance, said LAIKA's trust validates the company's mission to make full-color 3D printing as predictable and expressive as 2D imaging. Both teams expect the collaboration to lead to further work in full-color 3D printing, including new ways to combine digital and physical workflows in creative production.
LAIKA's longer record in color fidelity
LAIKA has previously worked on appearance fidelity in PolyJet printing. For Missing Link, the studio combined Stratasys J750 printers with the Cuttlefish 3D printer driver from Fraunhofer IGD to print more than 106,000 facial expressions. Brian McLean, then LAIKA's director of rapid prototype, attributed the choice to the software's color consistency and geometric accuracy. Cuttlefish is a voxel-based driver that works with multiple printing materials at once and accounts for light dispersion, hue and surface texture.
Stratasys took a different approach to color mismatch in 2019, when its J735 and J750 PolyJet printers received Pantone validation. The Pantone Matching System was integrated into the printers' workflow so designers and product developers could choose colors from a shared reference palette and avoid misinterpretation, shortening production time. PrismSlicer instead renders how a specific model will look once printed, adding a simulation step before production.
LAIKA, founded in 2005 outside Portland, Oregon, received a Scientific and Technology Oscar in 2016 for its work in 3D printing. Its newest feature, Wildwood, opens on October 23. The studio said it selected PrismSlicer with future productions in mind.