Modeling the Human Heart

[pumpkin2themax]

Hi all.
I recently learned solidworks as part of my summer job assisting in biomedical research, I'm getting acquainted with the program and am by no means an expert. I have been given the task of modeling the human heart.
I was wondering if solidworks would be the program of choice for this project. How would you go about building such an organic model? Would it be possible to illustrate/animate the expansion and contraction of the surfaces. Any input would be very helpful.

thanks,
nate

 

[solidmonkey]

Sounds tricky. I would look at more artistic modelling pckages such as Cinema 4D, or you could try Blender which is free. Both of these will do animation. Try picking up a magazine called 3D World for more ideas.

 

[michael3130]

I'm sure it could be done in SW but as solidmonkey says other programs such as Cinema 4D or 3D studio Max would be better for that sort of modelling.


Even if you do model it in SW, getting it to illustrate the movement of the heart would be very tricky.


But if you only know SW, give it a go anyway. You'll need to use surfacing modelling and it will push your knowledge of the program very far. Even if you don't manage to model it quite right, it would be a great learning curve.


Can I suggest you post any issues you have modelling it on here along with pictures to try and help you a bit.


Good Luck

 

[pumpkin2themax]

Thanks for the replys.
I think im going to give it a shot in solidworks.
My plan of attack is to find an actual MRI of a heart and use the section cuts to make curves for a loft.

I'll post up some pics when I make some progress.

thanks,
nate

 

[pumpkin2themax]

[No message]

 

[pumpkin2themax]

This is the pulmonary vein that returns blood from the lungs to the heart. Right now there is no outlet to the right atrium.
My plan is to build all the seperate chambers, veins and arteries then assemble them and make lofted cuts where they interact.
Does this sound like a good method?


this picture shows all the parts I will need to model

Edited by: pumpkin2themax

 

[pumpkin2themax]

Edited by: pumpkin2themax

 

[pumpkin2themax]

 

[michael3130]

pumpkin,


Sorry only replying now. Can you post some pics of the pulmoary vein. Your model is a good start but needs some 'smooting out'. what version of Sw are you using?

 

[Kevin De Smet]

I came across something called "Heartworks" a few months ago, it's a model of the human heart with anatomically correct animation. It's just breath-taking.

http://www.heartworks.me.uk/

They spent about 2 years on this from concept to finish.

I sent an e-mail to the folks who made this about a month ago and they told me they used Softimage (for the modeling, which is similar to Cinema and 3ds Max previously mentioned) and Bodypaint for the texturing.

I wouldn't have considered it possible if someone would have told me this because Softimage is for animation/film and games. But I guess one shouldn't underestimate those packages in terms of flexibility I guess!

 

[pumpkin2themax]

michael, i trashed that version of the pulmonary vein. Im going to start from the middle and work my way outwards. I have pretty much finished the 4 main chambers of the heart using lofts and lofted cuts.

Heres a pic with a section view

Right now Im struggling with making the veins and arteries eminating from the various chambers. My plan was to make a lofted cut in each of the chambers, then create a thin feature loft from the profile created from the lofted cut. As you can see from this pic sw doesn't like using the irregular curve on the heart face for a thin loft. Any suggestions?

thanks,
nate

 

[michael3130]

For the veins I would sweep a profile through the heart and use this to cut the holes out of the side walls of the heart....if I'm getting you right!!!


2nd suggestion would be, can you do a surface loft instead of a thin loft and then thicken the surface loft??

 

[pumpkin2themax]

I've got the holes figured out, the actual veins are the hard part. This is what I would like to end up with (edited w/ paint). If I could make a "tube" with the profiles shown i would be psyched. The part that i cant figure out is how to get the "tube" to match up with the compound curve of the heart's surface... it's really hard to explain, but I'll keep playing with it.

thanks for your input,
nate

 

[pumpkin2themax]

This is what I was able to do using a complicated series of lofts and cut lofts... I wasnt able to figure it out using a thin feature loft, but I'm pretty happy with the result. It's not the cleanest model so far, but it looks pretty good.

Next step is to model all the veins and arteries.

Then come the valves.

Nature is truly fascinating....

 

[michael3130]

Not looking bad at all. Well done so far. Keep us posted

 

[mbiasotti]

Sounds tricky. I would look at more artistic modelling pckages such as Cinema 4D, or you could try Blender which is free. Both of these will do animation. Try picking up a magazine called 3D World for more ideas.

Nate,


Zygote Media, a recent partner of SW, has a line of SolidWorks models for anatomical and has a full human heart available for purchase [url]http://www.3dscience.com/3D_Models/Human_Anatomy/Solid_Model s/index.php[/url]


Regards





Mark

 

[Jbiplane777]

Hi Nate,


It is not a problem to create NURBs solid model if you already have "Quad dominant mesh" template model like shown on www.3dscience.com/3D_Models/Human_Anatomy/Heart/Heart_1.php+ set of MRI images (if you need patient-taylored model). I developed application called ShapeWorks (now it is completelly abandoned, before we sell reduced version through our dealer www.baren-boym.com) which perform this job automatically and I could upload you result. This kind of model is suitable if you want to create 3D heart imlants.


For more complex tasks like CFD analysisprobably you'll need"animated heart model". I performed this kind of work in old CAD system Euclid in 1997 and can send you some results which are non-confident.


Your,


Valery Rutkovskiy, CEO www.esmartdata.com, [email protected]


Office +7 3912 912123

 

[Robust]

Very Good work sir congradulations.


But as a strong Pro eng believer & user( 25.000 hrs), I think still there are some people up there with excellent modelling skills likeyou within Pro eng & can do the same through Pro eng featurers.


Pro eng has brilliant style features and 2 direction curve and variable sweep surface modellingoptionswhich all wouldhelp us to do the same end result.


Separate suraface modelling and sketch curves and projections, merge them all then made a thin protrusion withround features, I think we couldgive better look than Sw does:-But still your one is so greate as far as no one has been started to show you yet.


Trajectory base sweep surface features will help you to model the rest.


I got my pro eng and am in the firing zone with brillient ideasand I will try my best to do the same withinone monthand publish on my website for you to look at.


For animation; I am going to have my 5 days full time pro mechanica & Animaton trainning next month and I will get back to you with my suggestions.


Thanks you for your excellent presentations and it let us inspiredourselfs to learn more within Pro engineer.

 

[Paul Zwaan]

Nice work. This is a field of interest for me. I made the human models shown here, called BodyWorks and HumanWorks...


www.human2go.com


Please contact me if you need any free assistance compleing the model


[email protected]


Regards


Paul Z

This is what I was able to do using a complicated series of lofts and cut lofts... I wasnt able to figure it out using a thin feature loft, but I'm pretty happy with the result. It's not the cleanest model so far, but it looks pretty good.

Next step is to model all the veins and arteries.

Then come the valves.

Nature is truly fascinating....

 

[pumpkin2themax]

Hi all, thanks for the support. Unfortunately this project was put on hold by my supervisor. If I come back to this project I'll let you all know.


thanks,


nate