Multi-Scale Procedural Animations of Microtubule Dynamics Based on Measured Data.

Tobias Klein,Peter Mindek,Eduard Groller,Ivan Viola

doi:10.1109/tvcg.2019.2934612

Abstract

Biologists often use computer graphics to visualize structures, which due to physical limitations are not possible to image with a microscope. One example for such structures are microtubules, which are present in every eukaryotic cell. They are part of the cytoskeleton maintaining the shape of the cell and playing a key role in the cell division. In this paper, we propose a scientifically-accurate multi-scale procedural model of microtubule dynamics as a novel application scenario for procedural animation, which can generate visualizations of their overall shape, molecular structure, as well as animations of the dynamic behaviour of their growth and disassembly. The model is spanning from tens of micrometers down to atomic resolution. All the aspects of the model are driven by scientific data. The advantage over a traditional, manual animation approach is that when the underlying data change, for instance due to new evidence, the model can be recreated immediately. The procedural animation concept is presented in its generic form, with several novel extensions, facilitating an easy translation to other domains with emergent multi-scale behavior.

Highlights

Molecular biology studies various complex structures composed of macromolecules, such as proteins or nucleic acids
In order to support keyframe animation in multi-scale, multi-instance environments, which are ubiquitous in molecular biology, we propose the following three new concepts: Instance-Dependent Timing A keyframed animation can be enhanced to support complex behaviour of molecular structures by modifying the interpolation function used to transition between two subsequent keyframes
The user can select how far along the microtubule guanosine triphosphate (GTP) bound to β -tubulins has already hydrolysed into guanosine diphosphate (GDP)

Summary

Introduction

Molecular biology studies various complex structures composed of macromolecules, such as proteins or nucleic acids. These structures are highly dynamic and they carry out various tasks important for the function of a cell. One way to display these structures, either for education, interdisciplinary communication, or hypothesis generation and testing, is through scientific illustration. Biologists often display their findings about nanoscopic structures by means of computer graphics. 3D models of these structures have to be created first This is a time-consuming and expensive task carried out by scientific animators who carefully study the underlying biological data and findings to manually create expressive visual representations of these phenomena. After the models are produced and rigged for animation, the animators can work on the overall look

Results

Discussion

Conclusion