Materialise NV

Materialize NV, based in Leuven, Belgium, is a company active in the field of 3D printing, offering both software and parts manufacturing.
Overview.
Materialize was founded in June 1990 in Louvain2 by Wilfried Vancraen3.
In 1991, the company released the first elements of the Mimics software suite, and in 1992 the Magics software suite. The first of these suites, Mimics, transforms stacks of 2D images (eg DICOM files) into a 3D model and calculates the area of these 3D models. Initial data can be obtained by computed tomography, confocal microscopy, microtomography or microscopic tomography (micro-CT or µCT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) via image segmentation. 
The second, Magics, makes it possible to optimize the printing result, to simulate the process, to manage the mesh structures, to generate supports, to import data, for example in CAD formats and to export them, in particular in 3D STL files. These software suites then evolve regularly2,4.
At the same time, the company sets up web services allowing its customers to express manufacturing needs or to pilot 3D prints.