Materialise Mimics

All downloads can be found here.

We recommend that you close all other applications before installing your Materialise software product. You must have administrative access to install the software.

In order to register and activate your software, you will need to install it first. Upon completion of the installation, the registration wizard will open. Depending on the type of license that you have or want, you will need to select one of the 'evaluation,' 'license,' or 'floating license server' options.

To activate your software without a key file, you need an internet connection and a valid license (CCKey or voucher). After installing and running the software, the registration wizard will open.

To activate your software with a key file, you must already have the key file. Save the key file you have received (.matkey) in a local folder on your computer or on an external storage device. After installing and running the software, the registration wizard will open.

Every software license that is under maintenance comes with the possibility of obtaining an emergency key file. This measure exists in case your software deactivates by accident and the normal reactivation process does not work. This key file reactivates your software for six days, which allows you to continue your work in the case of an emergency while our support team helps you reactivate your software.

Please note that you can only obtain a limited amount of emergency key files, depending on your maintenance package, so it should only be used in an emergency.

In standard cases, your software will remain active for 6 months, after which you will be required to reactivate your license. Your software will display a warning in case your license is about to expire. In certain cases, the duration of the license might be shorter.

You can consult the expiration dates on our password website after logging in with your CCKey or voucher code.

A license means having the right to use a Materialise software product under certain conditions. If you have a valid license (in the form of a CCKey or voucher), you will be able to activate your software. If your license is no longer valid, you will not be able to run the software. Depending on the type of license you have, you can renew it or prolong it after contacting your local office.

We safeguard our software by means of using security password files. About every 6 months, we change the way a password file is generated. Therefore, you will need to renew your password file every 6 months. You will still be able to use our software as long as you apply for the renewal of your license password file — this is free to do! 

If you bought a new license and the payment of your license was not registered in our system yet, you will only receive a two-month password file. This is because we allow our customers to activate their license once we receive the order, and before we receive the payment. Once the payment is registered in our system it will be possible to generate six-month password files.

To set your local license to automatically update via Mimics Core, please follow the steps below: 

1. Open Mimics Core. If the Key Request Wizard is not shown automatically, open it via Help — License — Key Request Wizard.
2. Select License — Instant Activation — Enter the license CCKey, then click Next.
3. The license will be updated via the Internet.
   • If the firewall blocks the outgoing connection, you can request a key file at https://passwords.materialise.com/.
   • In the Key Request Wizard, select License — I want to register a license key file. Browse for the key file and click Next.
4. No matter which method you follow, the licenses will be updated for both Mimics Core and 3-matic.

To set your local license to automatically update via 3-matic, please follow the steps below:

1. Open 3-matic. If the License Wizard is not shown automatically, go to Options — Help — Licenses — Activate or Renew Local License — Automatic Activation. Then, enter the license CCKey and click Next.
   • If the firewall blocks the outgoing connection, you can request a key file at https://passwords.materialise.com/.
   • In the License Wizard, select Activate or Renew Local License — Manual Activation. Browse for the key file and click Next.
2. No matter which method you follow, the licenses will be updated for both Mimics Core and 3-matic.

Please consult our Floating License Installation Guide for more information. 

Your system ID is a code generated by us that is unique to each computer or server. To find the system ID, you will first have to install your Materialise software product.

For detailed instructions, please read this article.

A key file is a small file (*.matkey) that will activate your software license. The key file is unique to each system (it is based on your System ID) and can only be obtained if you have a valid license (CCKey or voucher). For detailed instructions, please read this article.

The CCkey is the unique code that specifies your Materialise software license. If you have multiple Materialise products, you will have multiple CCkeys. The CCKey is needed to activate your license, but also for future downloads, upgrades, and other occasions. The format of the CCKey is xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx.

Your CCKey is communicated to you by email and/or mentioned on the invoice.

If you ordered your software in CD format, the CCKey can be found on the inside of the CD sleeve. If your license has already been activated, you can find the CCKey in the system information of the software, via the registration wizard.

If you do not have a CCKey, please contact your local office.

You can also verify your CCKey by opening your Materialise software. Go to Licenses under the Help menu and select 'Show license and system information.' If you have a CCKey, it will be shown at the top.

A voucher is a unique code, just like a CCKey, that activates your Materialise software license. Unlike a CCKey, a voucher is not necessarily connected to a commercial license but will often serve to activate evaluation licenses. The format of a voucher is xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx.

In most cases, your voucher will be communicated to you by email together with the download link for your software evaluation.

If you do not have a voucher yet, please register your software (by choosing an evaluation license) or contact your local office. 

In Mimics Core, you can find the preference under the ‘Edit’ menu. In 3-matic, they can be found under the ‘Options’ menu.

In Mimics Core, go to ‘Preferences’ under the ‘Edit’ menu. Under the ‘General’ tab, you can set the autosave frequency under ‘Performance.’ In 3-matic, go to ‘Preferences’ under the ‘Options’ menu. Under the ‘General’ tab, you can set the interval of the recovery file.

The Project Management tab in Mimics is the bar on the right side of the screen that contains lists of all the operations done on the dataset; it lists your masks, measurements, parts, STLs, etc.

You can toggle its visibility by clicking 'View,' 'Project Management,' and then 'Project Management Tabs.' If you want to restore the layout to default, click on 'View,' 'Project Management,' and then 'Reset Project Management Layout.'

Yes, in Mimics Core, go to ‘Preferences’ under the ‘Edit’ menu. In the ‘3D Setting’ tab, change the 3D background color under ‘Visualization and Navigation.’ You can also change your background color in 3-matic. To do so, go to ‘Preferences’ under the ‘Options’ menu. In the tabs, select ‘Viewport’ under ‘Visualization,’ and then set the background color according to your preference.

The bottom-left number in the axial view is the slice position according to the patient coordinate system (this information is read from the DICOM header upon import). The bottom-right number in all views is the slice position in Mimics Core. It starts at 0.00 and increases with the slice distance.

The slice distance in the sagittal and coronal views corresponds to the pixel size since these views are reconstructed by Mimics Core from the original axial data. The slice distance of the axial images can be checked under File > Organize Images. 

When rotating a part in the 3D view, Mimics rotates around the virtual center of all visible parts. Here, the coordinate system also counts as a visible part. Furthermore, a part can be outside of your view but still be 'visible.' To rotate around just your part, make all other 3D parts invisible and turn off the coordinate system.

The 'Edit masks' tool allows you to edit your mask directly in the 3D view. To do so, you need to have 'Toggle mask 3D preview' turned on. This generates a 3D preview of your segmentation mask that you can work on (fourth button from the top next to the 3D viewport).

Note that in Mimics 18 and earlier versions, to edit masks in 3D, you have to use the 'Edit masks in 3D' function in the Segment menu.

The Scripting module makes use of Python.

You can read more about Scripting in Mimics on the scripting forum.

You can find scanning protocols for the most used applications via this link.

DICOM is a file format widely used in clinical settings where images can be shared and includes DICOM tags, which are essentially header files containing information about that particular image.

DICOM is the abbreviation for digital imaging communications in medicine.

Importing ultrasound data is possible in the research version of Mimics Core and in the medical version from Mimics 24 onwards. Here you can find more information on how to export DICOM data from your ultrasound machine for GE and Philips.

These compressions are a form of noise reduction, they work as follows.

Lossless:
No compression.

CT compression:
Medical CT scanners work with the Hounsfield scale. See the item about Hounsfield Units in the Segmentation tab of this FAQ for more information. Since there is no tissue type that generates gray values from -1024 HU to -824 HU (first 200 values), the values in this range are typically just noise. CT compression then sets these values to -1024 HU.

Note that technical CT scans might contain materials within this range, so for these types of scans, this CT compression should not be used. In that case, choose Lossless.

MR compression:
For MR, there is no defined standardized scale like the Hounsfield scale for CT. Typically the noise is present in the first 10 values. MR compression sets these values to 0.

Cut Air compression:
For non-calibrated CT scans such as Cone Beam CT and µCT, this compression sets all the gray values corresponding to the first peak in the 3D histogram to zero. This first peak typically consists of air and noise.

The .mphtxt file that is generated for the export to Comsol needs to be imported in Comsol as a mesh, not as a geometry. In the Model Builder tree, right-click on Mesh1 and choose Import. Here you can select the .mphtxt files that 3-matic exported. Click Import to complete.

Hounsfield units make up the grayscale in medical CT imaging. It is a scale from black to white of 4096 values (12 bit) and ranges from -1024 HU to 3071 HU (zero is also a value). It is defined by the following:

-1024 HU is black and represents air (in the lungs). 0 HU represents water (since we consist mostly of water, there is a large peak here). 3071 HU is white and represents the densest tissue in the human body, tooth enamel. All other tissues are somewhere within this scale; fat is around -100 HU, muscle around 100 HU, and bone spans from 200 HU (trabecular/spongeous bone) to about 2000 HU (cortical bone).

Metal implants typically have very high Hounsfield units. Therefore, they are attributed the maximum value in typical 12-bit CT scans (3071).

You can switch between Hounsfield units (HU) and gray values (GV) in the Preferences. Go to Options > Preferences > General; here you can change the pixel unit.

Selecting Hounsfield will use a scale of -1024 to 3071. Selecting gray values will use a scale of 0 to 4096. Both scales are based on 4096 =12 bit values (212).

MRI does not work with a fixed grayscale range like CT. Medical CT images typically consist of 8-bit (4096 values) Hounsfield units (HU), which is a predefined scale for gray values of tissues in a human body (see the item about Hounsfield units above). MR images can be 8-bit or 16-bit and the range of gray values depends on the MR machine (field strength, gradient, coil, etc.) and its settings (SE1, SE2, etc.). Therefore, every MR dataset has a different scale and we cannot provide predefined thresholds.

Use 'Region Growing' to select connecting pixels only and select your region of interest. 

On the image level, you can use the Image Registration tool in Mimics Core (Image menu). For this to work, both projects need to have the same units (mm, um, etc.). You can also use the various registration options in the Align menu to register a part onto the scan, onto a mask, or onto placed landmark points.

Your mask consists of multiple unconnected parts. Use Region Growing (Ctrl + R) to select one region of interest before calculating a part.

This error usually pops up in the Multiple Slice Edit tool when you have edited in two neighboring slices. The algorithm needs at least one empty slice between two edited slices in order to interpolate.

You can use the Reslice Project tool in the Image menu. If you choose to reslice the images, the anatomical proportions will be preserved, but the dimensions and grey values of the dataset will be recalculated and interpolated. The quadratic interpolation will have a small blurring effect on the images.

The optimal quality setting will result in the most accurate model possible. It will also apply some optimization techniques — triangle reduction and smoothing. Whenever you create a 3D model, you can adjust these settings by clicking 'Options' in the 'Calculate 3D' window. However, calculating a complex 3D part in optimal quality can take some time, so in some cases, you would only want to use this setting on your final 3D model. If you just want to have a quick view of the 3D model, you could use lower-quality settings so it will calculate faster.

The smooth and reducing functions are available under the Fix menu in 3-matic. Mimics Core also offers the ability to perform smoothing and triangle reduction of your STL in the 3D Tools menu.

In 3-matic, the wrapping tool is available under the Fix menu or the Design menu, if you have access to the Design module.

After remeshing your part in the 3-matic FEA module, copy (Ctrl + C) your remeshed parts and paste (Ctrl + V) it into your Mimics Core project. The remeshed part will be added to the Parts. When you copy a volume mesh and paste it into your Mimcs Core project, it will be added as an FEA mesh.

In Mimics Core, you can then do a material assignment to the volume mesh based on the gray values of the DICOM images. There are different export formats available in both Mimics Core and 3-matic to export your remeshed part, volume mesh, and assigned material properties for your solver software: Ansys, Abaqus, Nastran, Comsol, Fluent, or Patran.

Once you have your 3D object created, you can optimize the mesh in 3-matic. A tool available to all users of the Base module is 'Improve mesh' in the 'Fix' menu. For more advanced mesh operations, the FEA module is required. With the Remesh menu of the FEA module, you can apply a 'Uniform Remesh' or 'Adaptive Remesh' to your STL. The latter is specifically intended to improve the mesh of anatomical structures in medical applications.