They used a specialized sort of 3D camera on a stick to get an incredibly accurate model of my mouth, any open source solution would need an equivalent. And you’d also need open source code from somewhere to work out which teeth need to move where and at what stage in the treatment.
AFAIK Align's 3D scanning system is more or less branched from the same Israeli tech that went into the Xbox 360 kinect camera and the iPhone face-ID.
iTero scanners (owned by Align Technology) use parallel confocal imaging via red light lasers. Their newer models also use Multi-Direct Capture techniques.
Kinect used a Light Coding technique, an infrared projector and camera. It was developed by a company called PrimeSense, which was later purchased by Apple.
There's something with Israel and 3D scanning tech. But I don't think I would like the answer.
My doctor knows I'm into this so he always does it right next to me and turns the PC monitor so I can watch the entire process. The software is so simple almost anyone could use it. Generating a medically correct result is obviously where all the skill lies.
The 3D camera was really neat. A little faster, and I didn’t once dry heave.
I could watch the software and a 3D model slowly form of my mouth. Looked surprisingly user friendly. Missed areas were highlighted, for example.
Dry heaving would have been great. I would regularly vomit from impressions. My orthodontist would just prepare two sets if impression trays, cause the first one was going to go in the medical waste bin.
Impressions for invisilign (when I did it, about a million years ago) weren't so bad though. Unfortunately invisilign resulted in an open bite for my molars, which I really should go back to an orthodontist to address, but I'd rather not.