Vologram and Other Medical Physicalization Prototypes for Home Edutainment
Volograms are customizable educational anatomical physicalizations. Translucent slides with volume data slices printed on them, stacked in a constant spacing create a holographic appearance. From the left side to the center we show the evolution of the vologram concept using different materials and frame sizes. The cardboard sculptures on the right-hand side served as inspiration for the vologram concept.
Background Information
The image is a photograph of an arrangement of different low-cost, customizable medical volume data physicalizations. The prototypes to the right show a skull at scale 1:2 and a heart at scale 1:1, illustrating how meaningful anatomical sculptures can be created at a minimal cost. This concept serves as an inspiration for vologram sculptures that can be seen to the left and in the center of the image. We provide a workflow for the customization and creation of such holographic sculptures from medical volume data, geared towards laypeople in both anatomy and medical visualization. Colors of structures, viewpoints, and scale of illustrative volume renderings can be freely selected, to create a set of slides of a specific size that are stacked at a predetermined distance. Our aim for this was to enable medical laymen in creating educational sculptures. The slide sets scattered around the image serve as examples of the versatility of this concept. The so-called receptacle part of the sculptures can be reused for different slide sets to create several structures. Our prototype design to the left side shows that a receptacle can be built out of arts and crafts material, accessible to everyone. For later iterations, we use 3D printing to create a more precise spacing and a sturdier structure. The volograms in the image show different views of the torso area, as well as the skull. We believe volograms embody a playful and versatile approach to educational medical physicalizations.