Using Unity and Shield UI for Displaying 3D Medical Education Objects in the Web Browser

Abstract

In this paper we describe how Unity and Shield UI frameworks are used for building the three-dimensional object rendering section of an online knowledge management system for human anatomy. 3D models of humans are organized in multiple levels of hierarchy and each component contains different types of related information. To allow seamless navigation, like searching for and selecting a specific organ, and viewing its medical description in several languages, developers would need to rely on an optimized and stable framework that can target web browsers as well as other platform builds. The specific requirements of this project called for trying the Unity package for building our 3D rendering scene and exporting it to the WebGL platform to make it available to its viewers on all mod-ern web browsers. To build the rich web user interface and bring high-level user experience to the viewers, the Shield UI framework is integrated on top of the Unity webgl build.