Bender

Bender is a free, open-source software for repositioning voxelized anatomical models. Built as a highly customized and enhanced version of 3D Slicer, it simplifies the task of making a whole-body volumetric image (e.g., an x-ray CT scan or an MRI scan) appear as if the subject is walking, sitting, or performing any arbitrary movement.  This is achieved using an intuitive interface to the computer-graphics techniques of rigging, skinning, and posing, in combination with the medical image analysis method of resampling:

• Rigging: Specify the skeleton (“rig” or also “armature”) that represents the linear sections and joints of the body, by which the body will be re-positioned.
• Skinning: Associate the volume voxels associated with each section of the skeleton.
• Posing: Animate the rigging by bending and rotating the joints to define the target repositioning of the body.
• Resampling: Resample the bones, soft tissues, and skin of the voxelized model onto the repositioned rigging to create a new voxelized model.

Kitware, a leader in the creation and support of open-source software as well as data visualization and analysis algorithms, is the lead developer of Bender and of the 3D Slicer application on which it is based.

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