Medical animation doesn't have to be dark. For WebMD's explainer on mantle cell lymphoma, Pixeldust created a bright, cool 3D look that makes a difficult diagnosis clear, calm and easy to follow.
Pixeldust is always exploring new looks for medical animation, to reach new generations of viewers and to keep pace with changes in the arts.
For WebMD’s mantle cell lymphoma explainer, that meant a bright, cool style: light-filled anatomy, soft pinks and purples, and photoreal detail at every scale, from the patient to the microscopic world of the cells. The whole film was built in real time in Unreal Engine and delivered in 4K on a quick turnaround.
A bright new look for medical animation
For this WebMD explainer on mantle cell lymphoma, its symptoms and its treatments, Pixeldust set out to make medicine feel bright and approachable. Clean light, cool tones and soft colors turn the inside of the body into a place viewers are comfortable exploring, while the 3D animation stays scientifically accurate, concise and precise.
To meet a quick turnaround, Pixeldust developed a unique real-time 3D animation pipeline. Every shot was made from start to finish in Unreal Engine, including shading, lighting and compositing, which removed the traditional render farm and its long waits for rendered frames entirely. The result is a fresh look that is easy to understand and fascinating to watch, rendered in 4K with a high degree of photoreal complexity in record time.
Light pinks and purples stand in solidarity with patients and represent the healthy parts of the body. Darker tones mark the affected areas and the malignant cells, so viewers can read the story at a glance.
Because the real-time pipeline let animators work in several styles while staying photoreal, Pixeldust experimented with shading styles and camera angles at both the human and the microscopic level, building distinctive shots that keep the action engaging from start to finish.