Dentist uses CINEMA 4D to create accurate and easy to understand visualizations for dental patients

Every day dentists have to explain dental procedures or issues regarding oral hygiene and disease to their patients. This can be difficult and time-consuming as dentists generally don't have many visual aides to use as reference. Reference material is difficult to come by because photographs of treatment procedures or diseased orifices are often too graphic for patients and could end up producing a negative reaction.

To help deal with this almost daily challenge, the Spanish Dental Association forged out to find someone who can offer a solution to this problem by making easy-to-understand educational animation videos for dental patients. Although there are many animation companies, few of them work in medicine-related fields and even fewer in the field of dentistry. This normally results in inaccurate scientific animations that are often lead to confusion and sometimes forces dentists to not only explain the animations themselves but also to re-educate the patients after having viewed an animation.

This is why the Spanish Dental Association contacted Juice -Dental Media Design-. Juice is a Spanish one-man operation established and run by Dr. Javier Tapia Guadix. Dr. Tapia is not only a 3D designer and animator but is also a dentist himself, which gives him a real advantage in accurately designing 3D dental models and animations without forcing clients to get involved in the process themselves.

Dr. Tapia states: “The key for this project was to create realistic models but to also steer clear of content that was too aggressive visually. Also, information must be clear and self-explanatory for patients, even in the absence of narration. It was a unique challenge for me as I had to do everything by myself - not only the 3D models and animations but also the script and voiceover. Finally, it was a nice opportunity to develop my skills in both 3D design and dentistry.”

“All models and animations were almost entirely done with CINEMA 4D, assisted by some third-party plugins such as those from Cactus Dan and Renato Tarabella, and with a little help of Pixologics Zbrush for the high-end detailing of models. The render was produced with CINEMA 4D's Advanced Render module. Final composition, effects and audio were done in Final Cut Studio, making use of CINEMA 4D's nice export option to Motion which lets projects be composited directly from the render."

“CINEMA 4D is a great 3D software package that offers so many possibilities. Is learning curve is so flat that you will often be surprised at the incredible results you can achieve in a very short time. I ´ve tried other 3D software packages but none has had the user-friendly interface and controls that CINEMA 4D has. Becoming a user of the Spanish C4D portal C4Des was also very helpful for me. People at C4Des are so friendly and are always in touch to help other users with their work. I have to give special thanks to Carlos Agell, Fran Pérez and the rest of the first users of C4Des."

These dental animations and others can be found at the Spanish Dental Association web page www.consejodentistas.org under “Usuarios”. These animations are intended to be viewed by patients and also to be downloaded by Spanish dentists to show them in their dental clinics.

At Juice, Dr. Tapia also produces dental illustrations and animations for dentist training and treatment references. He works with many renowned dentists, dentistry professors and also with clients like GC Corporation, Spanish Dental Foundation, Spanish Endodontic Association and Area1020 Global Systems among others.

More Information:

• www.juice.com.es
• www.consejodentistas.org