I guess my first post is about my most recent project, a virtual 3d LINAC Linear Accelerator I made on a voluntary basis for my local NHS city hospital. I initiated this project on my accord while I was undergoing radiotherapy to my brain, it was to stop the reminiscence a non cancerous tumour from growing back that was previously removed in brain surgery 3 years ago. The radiotherapy was administered everyday for 15 minutes over 9 weeks, regardless of feeling tired, sick and dizzy all the time I still managed to develop this project for NHS.
The reason I started this project was because at current, consultants do not have any efficient methods of explaining how radiotherapy is administered during preliminary consultations with patients. They use really bad hand sketches and kind of use their index fingers in an arc like motion to explain the process, I was half expecting Steven Spielberg's ET to administer the treatment on the day lol... The 1st week or so is the toughest, the main reason is because patients are unfamiliar with the industrial sized equipment which can often cause high anxieties. This CGI animation of the LINAC is aimed at reducing Shock Induced Anxieties during the initial weeks of radiotherapy by familiarizing future patients with the process and equipment prior to treatment. I aim to produce similar CGI assets on a voluntary basis for the NHS over the next couple of years.
Creative Process;
I started by shooting about 100 reference photos from 2 of the Linear Accelerators at UHS along with some measurements and mental notes. I then used the reference images from the various different angles and manually trace and extruded vertices to a workable mesh inside opensource CGI/Game Development software (Blender), during the modelling process I maintained real world scales to ensure accuracy of the model. The animation is achieved using a combination of keyframes / shape keys / armature. The materials are physical based render shaders, I kept the materials simple in the aim to keep render times minimal and affordable. I used a Roland V-Synth and an Akai MPC Renaissance to produce suitable backing music for the animation.
If you ever have to face one of these machines, there are 3 things to remember: 1 Drink lots of water, preferably ph balanced water like Evian, it helps prevents headaches, pain and sickness whilst encouraging repair of damaged cells. 2 Eat as much as you can whenever you can even if you feel sick, your body will need extra calories, fats, nutrients and proteins to repair unwanted damaged cells, junk foods with high fats, salts and sugar content is good during radiotherapy so feel free to binge out on cakes and pasties. 3 Be happy, love, appreciate everything and remember to smile.
