Pressure Points in Hands and Feet. VR Design Research Lab
Primary research/search for Ideas/First couple of weeks of progress work and thoughts
As this unit starts, I will genuinely try my absolute best in recording my thought and physical process.
We have 5 months to design and develop a VR-related application or hardware. This is a super open-ended project, which in my opinion either can be a tremendous benefit or a crucial difficulty. For me, at the moment it is an opportunity for research and exploration.
Key actions for me are as follows:
-Write down a brainstorm map/ thought map with the help of Lucia
-Find books and articles on medical VR/MR
-Think of potential ideas for the project
-Narrow down the area of medicine
-Look at the organic model building in Maya
-Patient educational experiences in VR
-Model low-poly organs
-UV mapping in Maya
Brainstorm for project theme/topic: At the beginning of the module, I attended a surgical planning presentation 16.02.2022 by a company called Inobitec, this was because I was initially thinking about making a surgical associated simulation project. Personal notes: “Motion Capture Surgeons”; “Sanitization before Surgery”; “Healing/Recovery after RAS surgery on urinary bladder”.
Link to the presentation by Inobitech:
Links to websites that played a role in idea development:
Inobitech Company focusing on surgical planning in VR: https://inobitec.com/eng/
Nanobot Medical Virtual Reality Animation: https://nanobotmedical.com/services/medical-virtual-reality-2/?ref=steemhunt
KindVR for children in pain: https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/For-children-in-pain-virtual-reality-offers-9176380.php
3D for Science Medical Animations in VR: https://3dforscience.com/contact/
As a continuation of my primary research, I made a Pinterest board to collect some photo references for surgical procedures, articles on VR in Healthcare, and general inspiration as I was doing that the algorithm suggested some hands and feet reflexology maps…
Here is the link to that Pinterest Board:
Quick mention since it is relevant to the decision-making on the topic of the final project. Before the start of the final term, I was given a bursary for a summer course (https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/stories/international-summer-school-bursaries-2020) at Hong Kong Polytech University (https://www.polyu.edu.hk/summerschool/programme/subjects-on-offer-2022/) to study Traditional Chinese Medicine for a month. I was already in the process of familiarizing myself with herbal and acupunctural practices in traditional East Asian medicine, the topic was in the back of my mind and freshly relevant.
After looking through and saving some of the pictures I thought to myself that making something connected to reflexology would be very interesting and a great subject to explore further digitally may be taking a new perspective on it. Plus, I found the images to be quite intricate and detailed with a distinctive style and a cool aesthetic. Overall, I immediately was drawn to the idea.
This is the reflexology map that I took as my base for color picking and referencing the pressure points, it was the best one I found and I liked the clarity of the map as well as the areas outlined, it is easy to trace and pick apart because of its’ details.