Blue Sky Plan Manual

It is also necessary to have an input STL model open in this case. First check whether all the settings in the "Fabrication" panel are correct, i.e. whether the correct input model is selected, whether or not automatic model alignment is used above the guide tubes, and what level of detail is selected for the resulting surgical guide. Further settings specific to fabricating a surgical guide from a surface model are found in the "Guide settings" section (8).

When opening a project, the program tries to guess whether it contains maxillary or mandibular data and automatically makes the selection. The same test is then also conducted when initiating the generation of a surgical guide. If the program's estimate does not agree with the actual situation, it is possible to change the selection manually.

Before actually fabricating the surgical guide, it is necessary to specify the area that should be covered. This is done automatically by clicking the "Automatic Curve" button. If the automatic curve drawing fails, it is possible to draw the curve manually by clicking "Draw Curve". This activates the drawing mode. The state of the button is indicated by a change in color. If we are in curve drawing mode, it is possible to manipulate the model without pressing any keys.

The shape of the curve can be edited using individual control points on it. Before actually generating a surgical guide, it is a good idea to check its shape in this mode. If needed, the curve can be deleted by clicking the "Clear curve" button and the curve can be automatically drawn again. As a consequence of fragmentation, errors in some input models, and, in some cases, local unevenness in the surface, it may happen that the curve does not correspond exactly to the intended shape. In this case, it is necessary to move the nearest points of the erroneous section so that the resulting outline aligns.

Parameters for the automatic curve can be set in Preferences > Surgical Guide > Guide Curve Suggestion. The suggested curve will be shown based on the settings. Selecting "External Surgical Guide to contralateral canine and exceed to the most distal tooth" will extend the surgical guide curve from the most distal tooth on the side of the arch, where an implant is located, to the contralateral canine.

After you finish editing, you can run generation of the surgical guide by clicking the button "Create Surgical Guide". The now unnecessary cropped curve is hidden automatically at this point. This is indicated by the "Show curve" checkbox, which can be used to redisplay the curve. If the curve entered and thus the resulting surgical guide do not contain all the planned implants, the user is notified and has the option of halting generation. Once it is completed, the fabricated surgical guide model is displayed in the "Surfaces" panel, where its parameters can be changed as standard. The surgical guide can be regenerated with edited parameters and the same curve; the curve is merely hidden and can be displayed with selection, edited again, and used to create a modified model.