This article was taken from the May 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
The Connecticut-based animation studio XVIVO brings our biology to life through high-quality visualisations. "Scientists often have complex stories to tell, and we help them to simplify these through animation and images," says Michael Astrachan, president and founder of XVIVO.
For its clients, including Pfizer, Harvard University, the US Department of Defense, Walt Disney Imagineering and toy maker Hasbro, it makes short expository videos. "We just finished an animation for the US National Institutes for Health to clarify what 'extracellular RNA' is," Astrachan says. This recently discovered family of molecules is similar to DNA but is found outside of the cell it was synthesised in, and is thought to play a role in communication between cells. "The NIH wanted to entice more researchers to apply for grants in the area and study it closely."
One of XVIVO's earliest projects was a film for Harvard's department of molecular and cellular biology called
The Inner Life of the Cell (the workings and functions of a white blood cell). The piece took 18 months to create and was screened at the 2006 Siggraph Conference in Boston, a showcase of the year's best animations.
Although the majority of its projects are biology or medicine-related, the studio does occasionally work in other fields: it has created an animation about the chemistry of merino wool for clothing manufacturer Icebreaker.
XVIVO references various materials, including medical illustrations, electron micrographs and photos, to create its work. "Although we use real data, there's no visible colour at the microscopic scales we look at," says Astrachan. "So, to convey the beauty in science, we get to make up the colours." Astrachan, who trained as an artist, taught himself 3D animation in 1998. Three years later, he cofounded XVIVO, which now has a staff of ten artists, producers, illustrators and designers who work on a dozen projects at a time. "For me, animation speaks the language of art, it is just a different canvas," Astrachan says. "I want to use my knowledge to help move the vision of scientists forward."
<span class="s2">[#video:https://youtube.com/embed/wJyUtbn0O5Y]
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
