Innovation Process for Optical Face Scanner Used to Customize 3D Printed Spectacles

Many people for different reasons end up wearing glasses to correct their vision. From time immemorial, there has been an unquestionable ability to associate people with glasses. Designing the glasses according to the physiognomy of each person opens a new path for a completely new optical experience. The frames are designed to fit perfectly on the face, are comfortable on the nose, and are positioned at an optimal distance from the cheeks and eyelashes. Three-dimensional printing technology offers the possibility to customize any form of glasses at a low cost with average quality. In this type of technology, the printer receives a digitized model of the spectacle frame (usually in STL file format) that must meet the parameters related to the wearer’s anatomy. Therefore, this paper presents an innovative process, an optical method used to scan the wearer’s face to design a parameterized design of the spectacle frames. The procedure has a measurement phase for quantifying the anatomical features of the wearer’s face, a para-metric design phase of the glasses for adjusting the design parameters according to the anatomical characteristics, and a manufacturing phase in which the custom eyeglass frame will be manufactured using 3D printing technology. The aim of this study was to create an innovative process that could be tested as an educational 3D printing system that could be used by undergraduate students (studying under an optometry program), a process that would begin at optometric prescription stage and can be used in the educational laboratory of the Department of Mechatronics and Precision Mechanics from the Politehnica University of Bucharest. Using this method we obtained a custom spectacle frame that can be prototyped using 3D printing. The 3D-printed polylactic acid (PLA) frames are lightweight, flexible, durable, and the innovative photogrammetry process gives designers the ability to create custom designs that cannot be created with traditional manufacturing techniques.