Image Credit: Copyright © 2024 Sobi, Inc. – All rights reserved. PP-19619 10/23. (See Full Credit Below)
Animation and computer graphics play a pivotal role in the medical field. As a form of digital storytelling to convey messages relating to medical information, it has rapidly evolved into our world, and it also made its way into the SIGGRAPH 2024 Electronic Theater. Prepare to be amazed as we sit down with the iso-form team from SIGGRAPH 2024 Electronic Theater presentation “Doptelet Mechanism of Action.”
SIGGRAPH: Your animated film “Doptelet Mechanism of Action” showcases the treatment of the autoimmune disorder, Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Can you provide some background on how this project came to life?
iso-form: When new therapies reach a certain point in the development pipeline, pharmaceutical companies need to educate physicians about how the therapy works in the context of the disease mechanism. That’s where we usually come in. This particular illness happens when the immune system malfunctions, lasting months or years. So, in addition to a fascinating science story, we were passionate about supporting this client in their messaging efforts.
SIGGRAPH: Knowing medical information and accuracy plays an important role in your work, can you talk about any potential roadblocks you ran into during this work and how your team overcame them?
iso-form: Scale is a constant challenge with medical animation as we have to quickly get from the organism scale to the molecular scale without losing the audience. There aren’t any real spaces in the human body, so we have to make choices about depicting things in ways recognizable to the audience without obfuscating the story. It takes a lot of familiarity with the subject matter and the audience. Molecular accuracy is also incredibly important for our audience, so we use a lot of data to determine how the critical molecular players look and fit together. Another challenge with this piece was depicting how platelets are produced and delivered into the bloodstream by the megakaryocytes. They go through a relatively complex series of remodeling events that we needed to understand and depict as accurately as possible in a short sequence. There’s also a lot of oversight and regulation involved in the process, so we partner very closely with our clients to balance accuracy, clarity, and visual impact.
SIGGRAPH: What does the future hold for digital storytelling in the medical field? How do you see it evolving?
iso-form: The medical animation field is so exciting because we depict cellular and molecular processes in ways the human brain can observe and process; it’s part sci-fi and part hard science. Our understanding of these processes constantly evolves, and there’s always something new to visualize. There’s a lot of momentum in this space, and the field is growing while our tools and capabilities are rapidly improving.
SIGGRAPH: What inspired your team to submit this animated film to the SIGGRAPH 2024 Electronic Theater? Why was it important to share this message in this space?
iso-form: We get a lot of creative fulfillment out of diving deep into mechanisms of disease and pharmacology and finding ways to tell those stories that captivate and educate simultaneously. Our audiences are usually highly educated medical specialists, so we have to do a lot of our own research and consultation, and bringing these stories to life is very rewarding. We want to share our passion in this space with our peers at SIGGRAPH and inspire others with the excitement and beauty in medicine.
SIGGRAPH: What do you hope the SIGGRAPH 2024 audience took away, personally or professionally, from your Electronic Theater contribution?
iso-form: We hope to inspire others to explore medical animation and push boundaries. Science is so cool, and it’s a privilege to tell these stories. We appreciate the opportunity to share our passion for science and animation, and we’re so honored to be a part of this incredible SIGGRAPH community.
Can’t get enough Electronic Theater Content? Check out this ACM SIGGRAPH Blog article highlighting all-things animation from the SIGGRAPH 2024 Electronic Theater.
Jack Nelson was introduced to the medium of digital 3D while studying medical illustration at Rochester Institute of Technology. From then on, it has become his medium of choice for creating art. Jack enjoys creating detailed, digital 3D models of other organisms when he is not working on medical art. His hobbies include hiking, scuba diving, and 3D printing.
With a distinguished career spanning over 15 years, Nick Klein MS, FAMI, has garnered widespread recognition for his leadership, service, and exceptional artistic abilities. He has earned numerous awards for innovative contributions to the field of medical visualization and is a Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators. As a co-founder of iso-form LLC, Nick continues to shape the industry landscape, while his passion for the outdoors and spending time with his family bring balance and inspiration beyond the professional realm.
With over 20 years of experience and more than 3,000 illustrations to his credit, Andrew Swift MS, CMI, FAMI, has worked on brands throughout the pharmaceutical industry. His illustration work has won numerous awards including three “Best of Show” awards from the Association of Medical Illustrators. Andrew taught medical illustration for 10 years earning the rank of associate professor from the Medical College of Georgia. Andrew is credentialed as a Certified Medical Illustrator (CMI) and in 2009 was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Medical Illustrators (FAMI). Andrew is an active member of the Association of Medical Illustrators where he lectures on topics of digital painting, digital sculpting, digital asset management, and the role of diagnostic imaging in the field of medical illustration. Among his favorite things is canoe camping in the Florida Everglades.
Pete Matthews, primarily an animator and editor, loves the creative process and thrives on solving design problems with his iso-team. Beyond his professional pursuits, he’s passionate about underwater photography and can effortlessly lose himself in discussion or playing board games.
With over 10 years of experience in patient care, Emily Drapal finds excitement in iso-form’s combined focus on art, technology, and the human body. She’s a travel enthusiast with a passion for exploring new cuisines — the hotter the better! Emily seeks out any opportunity to be in nature and loves spending her free time at the barre studio and with her family and friends.
Leading Blog Image Credit:
Copyright © 2024 Sobi, Inc. – All rights reserved. PP-19619 10/23.
iso-form LLC has obtained all necessary permissions and fulfilled all requirements to submit this animation for awards and promotional activities, crediting all contributors appropriately and ensuring no breach of confidentiality or privacy agreements. The client authorizes iso-form LLC to use the animation, in whole or in part, for the purposes of business development, subject to the terms of our agreement.
This copyright notice serves to acknowledge iso-form LLC’s retained rights to the proprietary materials used to create the final product, ensuring compliance with all relevant copyright laws and protections. The submission of this work for awards or its use in promotional materials by iso-form LLC does not imply the transfer of ownership of the underlying proprietary materials to any third parties.
For further information or inquiries regarding the use of this animation or the proprietary materials contained therein, please contact iso-form LLC directly.
