For people with low vision, interacting with physical objects is critical. The printer creates three-dimensional solid objects from a digital file. With that in mind, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s local office recently purchased the printer with funds donated by the Rotary Club of Edmonton. Now, their office could print a heart — four chambers and braille labels included — for a student who’s interested in science, said Conor Pilz, CNIB Edmonton’s manager of major giving. “They would be able to feel it and understand it … because they wouldn’t be able to look at a picture in a textbook,” he said. For their younger clients, Laura Larson, the children’s department assistant, has already printed a model of the solar system and an aid to help with chopping. The solar system can help students understand the space between the planets and the immense size differences. “It just really shows how small (Earth is) in comparison,” Larson said. She had some of her younger clients test out the chopping aid — a plastic piece that slips on top of a knife blade and helps stabilize it — Thursday night during a cooking event.