The Real CSI and Beyond

The sky’s the limit for vfx artists and animators specializing in the hotly emerging area of forensics and medical science, but don’t be fooled by fictional portrayals on television.

“A lot of people think if they get into forensic animation that it’s going to be like CSI,” observes James Murphy, whose Virtual Partners Training Center (VPTC) in Green Bay, Wis., is the first animation training center to offer forensics education. “Not going to happen. Most forensic animators will probably be in a courtroom once or twice every three years. It’s not very dramatic and can be boring. There’s a lot of interaction with attorneys and expert witnesses, and you’re there to simply help visualize what the experts witnesses are attesting to.”

Even without the Hollywood sizzle, there are plenty of pluses along this seemingly unorthodox career path. “It’s a market where you can really learn things about what you are animating,” according to Michael Astrachan, studio director for XVIVO LLC, a 3D animation facility in Rocky Hill, Conn., for which he’s also one of three partners.

His firm specializes in translating complex medical information into scientifically accurate and visually compelling presentations for scores of blue-chip clients, including Merck, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Yale University, Alcon Surgical, IBM, Canon, Lego and Hasbro. The company’s award-winning mechanism-of-action animation offers extraordinary insight into how drugs work at the molecular level and parts of a fully implantable artificial heart mimic the real thing. (Read full article…)