Patent ID: 8359114

Claim:
A system for building a virtual wax object corresponding to a three-dimensional dental restoration, the system comprising: a user interface configured to receive input from a user; and a design application in communication with the user interface, wherein the design application comprises: a design module configured to produce a virtual refractory model, the virtual refractory model comprising (a) an initial 3D computer model created from a scan of a dental stone or created from a scan of a patient's mouth, and (b) virtual block-out wax added to fill in undercuts of the initial 3D computer model and, optionally, a defective portion of the initial 3D computer model; and one or more virtual wax-up tools configured to build the virtual wax object corresponding to the three-dimensional dental restoration onto the virtual refractory model according to user input via the user interface, wherein the undercuts are automatically identified based at least in part on a geometry of the initial 3D computer model and a direction of insertion of the three-dimensional dental restoration, wherein the virtual block-out wax is added automatically via a processor or semi-automatically via the user interface, and wherein components (a) and (b) of the virtual refractory model are separately stored volumes that are combined with a volumetric union operation to produce the virtual refractory model.