Placing implant templates

Templates are scaled overlays of real implants — TPLO plates, LCP plates, and others. Once placed, the overlay represents the actual implant’s footprint at the radiograph’s scale, accurate to the millimetre.

Before you can place

Calibrate the radiograph first. The Templates tab will refuse to arm a template without a scale set.

Placing a template

Open the Templates sidebar tab.
Search or filter by brand, system, and screw diameter.
Click the template you want. A translucent ghost appears on the cursor.
Move to the position you want and click to commit.

The ghost is screen-aligned during placement — it doesn’t rotate with the X-ray. Once placed, the implant becomes anchored to the bone: if you later rotate the radiograph to view the leg differently, the implant rotates with it.

Cancelling placement

Press Escape while the ghost is showing — cancels without placing.
Right-click the canvas — same effect.
Click the armed template’s sidebar button again — unarms.

After placement: the swap panel

When an implant is selected, a draggable panel appears in the bottom-left of the canvas. From here you can:

Switch sister variants — slide between hole counts and sizes within the same family. The implant updates in real time as you drag.
Toggle Left/Right for side-specific implants.
Toggle front/side view of the implant.
Delete the placed implant (trash icon).

The slider is responsive — drag through 10 different variants and the canvas updates in lockstep. The implant’s centre position is preserved across swaps so you can iterate on size without re-aiming.

You can drag the panel by the grip strip at its top to move it out of the way of the implant you’re working on.

Adjusting after placement

Move: click and drag the body of the implant.
Rotate: drag either of the cyan circles at the implant’s ends.
Delete: select it and press Delete or Backspace, or use the trash button in the swap panel.

Recently used

The Templates sidebar floats your most-used implants to the top in the Recently Used section — useful when planning multiple cases in the same family.

Accuracy notes

Overlay dimensions reflect the manufacturer’s specifications encoded in the template library. If a template’s dimensions look off, report it — it’s almost certainly a library data issue, not a calibration issue.
Screw hole positions are derived from manufacturer drawings where available. Visual screw placement is a planning aid, not a substitute for intraoperative judgement.