Ortho Solutions

3D Medical Animations of Ankle Fractures for Orthopaedic Surgical Implant company

Ortho Solutions are a specialist orthopaedic company specialising in surgical implant systems for foot and ankle conditions. They identified an issue regarding the current surgical approaches used to treat posterior malleolus fractures of the foot and ankle. This was likely due to a lack of training or awareness by surgeons of teams new surgical approaches using Ortho Solutions new plating system that have been shown to significantly improve patient outcomes.

The goals for this project were to create a series of medical animations that KOLs can use at conferences and meetings to show different types of ankle fractures and how they can occur.

Something that was missing in existing animations available on the market was the ligaments and the avulsion fractures that occur when the ligaments pull fragments off the bone away. This was identified as one of the key points we wanted to convey in the animations.

CLIENT
Ortho Solutions

ARTISTS
Emily Holden
Annie Campbell

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Visual Development

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We’ve always found it useful to see the process of how other people create things. Here are some behind the scenes snippets and work in progress pieces that might be of interest to you.

If you want to learn more about our techniques for creating our content, check out our education channel Learn Medical Art.

Step 1: 3D Model

We created our 3D assets for this project in advanced to make sure that the anatomy was accurate before considering any motion. The skeletal and ligament anatomy went through a couple of rounds of review until the client was happy to sign off on the final models.
Step 2: Style Frame

We set up our 3D scene with lighting and textures as style frames for the clients approval. This helps the client to visualise the final product in advance of any animation so that they can keep this in mind when reviewing animatics or rough cuts of the animation.
Step 3: Storyboards

It was important for us to have a detailed understanding of how the specific rotation of the ankle causes the fractures and subsequent ligamentus damage and avulsion fractures. After carefully researching and reviewing the scientific papers provided by the client we put together a storyboard to break down the story and the motion that will be shown on screen.
Step 4: Animatic/Rough Cut 01

This was the most complex aspect of this project. During this stage we worked on getting the movement of the ankle right, additional 3D modelling of the fractures as well as R&D-ing the tearing of the ligaments.
Step 5: Fine Cut

This is where everything comes together and we implement the final lighting and textures to our animated scene.
Step 6: Motion Graphics

We added additional 2D motion graphics elements to help with communicating some of the finer details of the animation as well as incorporating CT data.

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