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R. Raidou, E. Gröller, H. Wu:
"Slice and Dice: A PhysicalizationWorkflow for Anatomical Edutainment";
Computer Graphics Forum, 39 (2020), 7; S. 1 - 12.

During the last decades, anatomy has become an interesting topic in education-even for laymen or schoolchildren. As medical
imaging techniques become increasingly sophisticated, virtual anatomical education applications have emerged. Still, anatom-
ical models are often preferred, as they facilitate 3D localization of anatomical structures. Recently, data physicalizations (i.e.,
physical visualizations) have proven to be effective and engaging-sometimes, even more than their virtual counterparts. So
far, medical data physicalizations involve mainly 3D printing, which is still expensive and cumbersome. We investigate alter-
native forms of physicalizations, which use readily available technologies (home printers) and inexpensive materials (paper or
semi-transparent films) to generate crafts for anatomical edutainment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first computer-
generated crafting approach within an anatomical edutainment context. Our approach follows a cost-effective, simple, and
easy-to-employ workflow, resulting in assemblable data sculptures (i.e., semi-transparent sliceforms). It primarily supports
volumetric data (such as CT or MRI), but mesh data can also be imported. An octree slices the imported volume and an opti-
mization step simplifies the slice configuration, proposing the optimal order for easy assembly. A packing algorithm places the
resulting slices with their labels, annotations, and assembly instructions on a paper or transparent film of user-selected size,
to be printed, assembled into a sliceform, and explored. We conducted two user studies to assess our approach, demonstrating
that it is an initial positive step towards the successful creation of interactive and engaging anatomical physicalizations.

Human-centered computing → Visualization application domains; Applied computing; Life and medical sciences;

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cgf.14173

https://publik.tuwien.ac.at/files/publik_291359.pdf