Utilizing Augmented Reality to View Virtual Cadavers

This project began in April 2022 for the XRCore Lab at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. This project’s goal was to create a Unity3D application using zSpace, an augmented reality AIO, to view 3D volume rendered models of cadavers using DICOM image sets. This application was to be used as a teaching tool for pre-medical and medical students. The application would include the 3D model generated from the DICOM image set, cross sectional views of the model on the axial, coronal, and saggital planes, the case report created by the professor to instruct the students what to do, and various settings to change the model and how it rendered. Furthermore, this application would be used by students who were also dissecting the real-life counterpart of the models they were viewing.

My role in this project was to create application in its entirety. This included creating a separate application to convert the DICOM image sets into a compact format that the first application could easily parse. Furthermore, this also included creating the UI for the application. I have very little experience with UI design so creating the UI for this application gave me a better sense of what makes a good user experience. I was also responsible for creating the development timeline for the project since I was the only developer. Additionally, I was responsible for teaching the senior, non-programmer faculty computer science concepts so that they could understand what was and wasn’t feasible to create given our timeline and lack of additional developers. This experience gave me a better understaning of how to work with non-programmer professionals and how to create a development timeline.

Click here to learn more about the XRCore Lab.

Click here to learn more about zSpace.