My Heart

I have been working on a 3D heart model for both my project research and my Maya class.  This has been a very long and tedious process, but is finally showing some results.  This images below are from a short fly through animation of the heart and electrical conduction system I created.  I will do a speed through description of the workflow/programs I used to make this an anatomically correct heart model.  First, I used a Dicom file consisting of CT scans of the thoracic cavity.  Next, I uploaded these scans into a program called Mimics.  Within Mimics, I had to go through the 300 layers of scans and isolate out just the heart tissue…. which took… a while.  Mimics produces a model from this that is unmanageable to work with in any 3D program.  (Side note:  this is the same process I used for the Kidney project)  I then took the unusable model into 3D Studio Max to use as a “template” and created my own heart model using retopology.  Now that I had the model, I UV mapped the heart in order to prepare it for materials.  Finally the hard part is done and the fun begins… painting!  I took the model into Mudbox and created diffuse, normal, and displacement maps.  Everything was then imported into Maya.  Within Maya I created the electrical conduction system that exists within the heart.  Finally, the lighting was set up and a fly by/through animation was key-framed.  I also have “glowing” particles that move through the electrical conduction system demonstrating the flow of electricity.

Surgical Illustration

I have been in the Surgical Illustration class this semester, which has proved to be an amazing experience.  The first part of the semester was just going into surgery and sketching in order to increase our comfort level and clarify our own sketching styles.  Often, everything important seems to happen at once, so we’re forced to jot down the anatomy, instruments, and terminology rather quickly.  Once we leave the OR, we take the information and sketches obtained and sort through them.  For the two examples of my work below, we had different requirements as far as how many surgical steps and what format or media we were allowed to use.  The Total Abdominal Hysterectomy is directed toward medical students.  It shows the first six steps of the procedure and is a black and white photoshop painting.  The second image is an editorial piece demonstrating a procedure which was used to correct a flat foot.  This is a color photoshop painting, with my pencil sketch showing through.