Heart 4.0

At the age of 12, I first began to study the topic of 3-dimensional computer modeling. My mother was a doctor and my father was a graduate engineer in the telecom industry. Thus, the basis for my passion was seemingly inherited. I have been a computer geek since I was a kid, learned the current programming languages very quickly, and loved drawing. Back then my father brought home the latest 3D software he needed for his own work. It was still the era of MS-DOS and Windows 3.0, and I still remember it very well: the manual consisted of around 600 pages, which I read in a short time. Since I have always been eager to learn and listen to my mother with interest when she told about the clinic, I became, of course, interested in objects that I could create on the computer. At that time, the heart was already my object of desire because it represents an enormous challenge in terms of structure, composition and even the surface on its own.

The surface of the heart is very complex compared to other organs such as the liver, spleen or kidney. Due to its extensive anatomy, a model of the heart requires an extremely large number of polygons, those square basic structures on which any 3-dimensional model in the field of virtual and augmented reality is based. The structure of the heart is very complex since the surface texture is not as homogeneous as compared to most other organs. The texture of a liver, lung or kidney is comparable to an orange as these organs all have a more uniform, smooth surface.

My very first personal projects with 3D applications were initially less complex. Back then I started with a 3-dimensional replica of my study, extending the model to the entire apartment and later to parts of the street where we lived. I lost myself in the 3-dimensional new world. The area was still very new and unexplored because at that time programs such as Photoshop with all its current functions were dreams of the future. However, I have always wanted to be able to realistically model and reproduce the heart in all its complex anatomy. I undertook each attempt with different, initially simple models and textures. Back then, of course, that was on the one hand professionally but also technically possible only in a very limited way.

My mother recommended that I should study medicine because she knew what made my heart beat then. Very early on I started to focus on the topic heart. My passion for 3D animation had spread very quickly in the
circles of my colleagues and so I was able to assist very early in surgical procedures and was able to try to animate them on the computer later. Even my instructors had a great interest in the complex and very vivid renderings of surgical techniques and anatomical models such as those of the human heart. Many evenings I spent working on these many small details of the human heart. Very quickly, however, I reached the limits of the existing software and decided to buy another, special software for an even more realistic development. This extra software allowed me to work like a sculptor. You start with an initially very simply designed 3D model and with the help of a graphics tablet and a special pen you form step by step an ever more exact model, in which you engrave fine details with varying degrees of pressure.

Without a corresponding photo-realistic texture, however, every 3D model will appear "naked", colorless and rather artificial. Only when you combine photos of a real heart into a "panorama photo" and put it around the model it suddenly becomes "livelier". This "texture wrapping" serves the purpose to "wrap" the heart - a decisive step for the further development of the model.

The great challenge of working on the human heart and later animating the heartbeat is similar to that of painters or draftsmen creating a photorealistic portrait. This fusion of technical skill and artistic identification turns the former model or portrait which is rather a clumsy image of reality into a homogeneous whole. The reflection and material properties also play a crucial role here. These are decisive components that the other graphic designers tend to ignore in their representations of tissue because they cannot incorporate this symbiosis of technical and content- related medical skills into the object.

To be continued in the magazine...