LEUVEN, Belgium—Materialise NV (NASDAQ: MTLS), a provider of additive manufacturing software and 3D printing technology for the medical, industrial and eyewear markets, announced that it is collaborating with Luxexcel, a Dutch start-up of customized 3D printed optics. The two companies plan to develop a build processor tailored to Luxexcel’s needs.

Materialise, based here, recently introduced the Materialise Magics 3D Print Suite, wrapping all their industrial software solutions into one suite. The Materialise Build Processor is the technology within the Materialise Magics 3D Print Suite that takes care of communication between software and 3D printing machines. Materialise and Luxexcel are now working on a machine-specific, image-based Build Processor for Luxexcel, to give Luxexcel specific control over 3D prints and ensure the quality of optical parts.

“Materialise software helps us to support our 3D printing technology for optical products,” said Hans Streng, CEO of Luxexcel. “By implementing the Build Processor we will get a tailored solution which supports seamless communication between software and our 3D printer for our prototyping business. It contributes to the growth of our 3D printing service and supports new technological developments.”

Luxexcel has developed a way to make reading lenses using additive manufacturing, although it has not yet commercialized the process. The company presented the concept to members of The Vision Council at Vision Expo West in 2015.

Materialise provides software for printing eyeglass frames, and has worked with several frame manufacturers, including Bawsome (Bawsome glasses), Hoet Design Studio (Hoet Design Studio’s eyewear), Seiko Optical (SEIKO Optical), Aoyama Optical France (Aoyama Optical France) and Hoya’s 3D printed eyecare devices (HOYA’s 3D-printed eyecare devices).