In these screen captures, VisTe students show their 3D work. Left is the components of the knee and how one part articulates with the other prior to designing a prosthetic device. On the right is an image from an animation of a syringe pump.

Dr. Mark Snoswell created the Ultimate Human 3D model set and Absolute Character Tools (ACT), a toolset for animating the human musculo-skeleton. Used as a plug-in for Discreet 3ds max, the muscle and skin simulation software gives artists the tools to create realistic animation with biomechanically correct muscle, tendon and joint motion. The animations are used for surgical simulation, patient rehabilitation, sports training, informed patient consent, biomechanics and orthopedics as well as computer-generated film and game characters. Another company, Anatomical Travelogue, has created computer animations of human anatomy. Their work — an animation to educate men about the life-saving procedure, colonoscopy — was featured on the Today show There is also a new field emerging among physicians in non-traditional medicine to use 3D animation to teach patients to visualize and use the power of the mind for healing purposes. The techniques have been used with cancer victims, for fighting infections and healing bones.

At MIT the TEALS/Studio physics project deals with electro-magnetic fields. This theoretical area is extremely difficult to communicate to a student. Using 3D they can visualize these normally invisible magnetic fields, improving student comprehension. It's also tied into the technical data. One of the big differences between scientific and technical visualization versus standard animation for visual effects and games is that there has to be a link to a technical reality. For example, in a courtroom when animation is used as a part of expert testimony or evidence, the technical data—the forensics evidence collected at the crime scene — and the expert witness's testimony must link directly to the animation.

Michael Edmonds of Discreet (left) and Pia Maffei of Applied IDEAS Inc. have developed a comprehensive high school program that features project-based immersion using visual communication to explore a particular science topic.

Years ago, the Athena project at the University of Maryland researched better ways to teach classic physics subject matter by using graphics and animation. More recently, a visualization consortium called Molecvue uses computer graphics to teach chemistry. About 15 smaller liberal arts universities in the northeast are in this consortium, started by Dr. John Ranck at Elizabethtown College. Purdue University, a top author in engineering graphics, uses animation extensively in engineering. If you think about mechanical engineering with linkages, chains and robotics, high-end animation techniques are perfectly suited for visualizations. At St. Bonaventure University, Dr. Dalton R. Hunkins has been very successful at teaching calculus to liberal arts majors using 3D animation. It's far more efficient than the standard theoretical approach to teaching calculus because students can see visual feedback on the math underpinnings instantly. NASA uses 3D animation to train space shuttle astronauts, for public education as well as to visualize prototypes of the new X43A engine systems.