From a workstation with three computer monitors arrayed in his basement, 3D animation artist Sean Maynard, shown with his dog Augie, has been producing animated medical videos – to help patients — and doctors — better visualize how a medical procedure, new device or new drug will work.

Sean Maynard has never performed a surgical procedure. But his handiwork has helped patients and physicians around the country better understand the steps for dozens of procedures — from gastric bypass to dialysis to heart surgery — through 3D animation.

Maynard, a graphic animator, said that in the age of YouTube and online learning, animated videos are becoming a commonplace for medical device promotion, hospital training and patient education, and that has created a niche in the medical industry for his Mansfield-based 3D animation business.

“There’s a lot of demand [for 3D animation] in the region, given the number of health care facilities and teaching hospitals,” said Maynard, noting that medical animation projects now account for about 60 percent of his work.

“The benefit of 3D is you can show a detailed step-by-step view of a procedure without the ‘blood and guts,'” said Maynard, 46. “In addition, with 3D you can zoom in, slow down a process or freeze frame an image.”

Maynard, who has been creating medical 3D animation videos for more than 20 years, said a video typically takes about 40 hours to complete. After doing extensive online research, he communicates with clients and doctors to understand the key points they want emphasized. “The biggest challenge is to accurately depict the procedure,” Maynard said. “And doctors can understandably be very particular.”

Typically, Maynard’s animations show one of three things: the molecular impact of pharmaceuticals on the body, the details of a surgical procedure, or the usage of a medical device. With advances in 3D technology, he said, smaller companies like his are better able to compete with larger players and often at a fraction of the cost.

Dr. Jonathan Slater, a Springfield-based nephrologist with an office in Enfield, has hired Maynard to produce 3D animated videos for Kidney Man, his patient education company. “Dialysis is a heavy-duty thing, and… video plays an instrumental role in helping to educate the patient what kidney disease is,” Slater said. He cited data, including studies of students in eighth and ninth grade, that show animated videos can significantly increase patient engagement and understanding.

Maynard also has produced 3D animation for marketing companies like ThreeSixty Group in Marlborough, Mass. ThreeSixty’s principal, Paul O’Connor, said the videos are part of a comprehensive communications plan for small companies seeking to market the medical products they’ve developed, to illustrate what they can do, and also to help doctors, as well as larger companies that might want to acquire them, understand the unique benefits of a device.

Read Full Article – Source: Mansfield-Based 3D Animator Creates Medical Training Videos – Hartford Courant

Author – MATTHEW BRODERICK

Photo 1 Credit – Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant