Brachial Plexus VR
About:
The brachial plexus consists of a complex network of nerves with distinct spatial relationships to each other and the structures surrounding them. This was a student driven project, where medical students at the University of Nebraska Medical Center collaborated with us to create a virtual reality (VR) application for learning the anatomy of the brachial plexus.
Special considerations were taken to correlate 2D material used in the students’ curriculum with the 3D models in the VR application. Additionally, this VR module corresponds to the interface of a web-based module on brachial plexus anatomy that we previously designed for the same group of students.
Role: UI/UX design lead, modeling
Skills: wireframing, prototyping, user interface design, icon design, usability research & testing
Target audience: First year medical students
Software: Adobe XD, ShapesXR, Adobe Illustrator, Zbrush, Maya, Cinema4D
Format: Exe application on Meta Quest 3
UI Design
UI Design: ShapesXR and AdobeXD, talk about matching web-app
UX features: hover Z depth, position track, sound, tutorial
Usability testing and feedback: Show forms used for testing, 2 rounds of testing
I worked with an ENT faculty member to ensure that her learning objectives were met through different functionalities in the VR application. With a focus on teaching skull base anatomy, I designed the application with a focus on enhancing spatial understanding of clinically important structures. Functionalities included are visibility adjustments, clipping plane feature to control a clipped view of anatomy, and a labeling and annotation feature.
During the design and prototyping phase, I utilized ShapesXR to create the application's interface and functionality in virtual reality. This tool allowed me to prototype in a 3D immersive environment, enhancing my understanding of the user's perspective. It provided a quick and easy method to explore and validate design concepts in virtual reality. Additionally, ShapesXR's desktop mode made the prototype easy to share with team members, facilitating collaboration and making hand off to our team’s programmer efficient.
The interface was iteratively designed based on feedback from tests by multiple users.
Early prototype product in ShapesXR
Modeling
I cleaned up the skull models based on segmented CT data provided. Major challenges involved reconstructing the turbinate bones, ethmoid region and various foramina from segmented data. Additionally, I modeled the vessel, sinus and neural pathways from scratch. The final models were decimated to reduce polycount for a VR environment.
Segmented raw data is seen on the left, and high poly cleaned up models are seen on the right.
Reconstruction of ethmoid and turbinate bones, including small foramina such as the anterior and posterior ethmoidal foramen
Cleaning up of holes in segmented data to include only true foramina in the skull
Removal of mandible and separation of cervical vertebra from base of skull