Splint Basics
The splints module is the basis for making shells which overlay parts of a dental model (teeth, gingiva, mucosa, even bone). The concepts in this module apply to surgical guides, night guards, retainers, clear aligners, denture bases. While only a small portion of those are implemented in any meaningful way, the existing workflows could be modified and leveraged to accomplish other tasks.
The splint panel can be toggled on/off from the ODC Control panel. The panel can also be collapsed with the small arrow at the top left. Also panels can be dragged and re-ordered to match your current work flow. A list of the current splints you are working on is displayed.
##Starting a splint
Adding a splint to the Blender project simply let's the addon know which objects are involved in designing the splint. A popup will ask you to name it. The "link" check box will assign the currently selected object as the model on which to build the splint. If you don't have an object selected, it's ok, you can set the model later.
##Drawing an Outline A line is drawn on the model to define the borders of the splint. For detailed information on how to interact with and modify the splint margin, see here. Click the last point to close the loop and press Enter when done.
##Calculating the Splint Base
Once model has been selected, and an outline drawn, the final step is to calculate the shell or base. It is important to note that currently, splints are designed to sit passively and not engage undercuts so the view direction is very important. Look down on the model, and press "Calculate Splint Base"
