Vologram: An Educational Holographic Sculpture for Volumetric Medical Data Physicalization

Abstract

Real-world sculptures that display patient imaging data for anatomical education purposes have seen a recent resurgence through the field of data physicalization. In this paper, we describe an automated process for the computer-assisted generation of sculptures that can be employed for anatomical education among the general population. We propose a workflow that supports non-expert users to generate and physically display volumetric medical data in a visually appealing and engaging way. Our approach generates slide-based, interactive sculptures-called volograms-that resemble holograms of underlying medical data. The volograms are made out of affordable and readily available materials (e.g., transparent foils and cardboard) and can be produced through commonly available means. To evaluate the educational value of the proposed approach with our target audience, we assess the volograms, as opposed to classical, on-screen medical visualizations in a user study. The results of our study, while highlighting current weaknesses of our physicalization, also point to interesting future directions.