Process
How an animation actually gets made
Most people commissioning a medical animation are doing it for the first time. This is the whole process, so you know what you are approving and when — and where changes are cheap versus expensive.
What are the stages of a medical animation project?
A medical animation is built in six stages: brief and scope, script, storyboard, modelling and look development, blocking and animation, and render and delivery. Each stage ends in something the client approves before the next one begins.
That structure exists because the cost of a change rises steeply as a project moves through it. Correcting the science at script stage costs a conversation; the same correction after rendering costs the render. So the decisions that matter most — what the science says, and how it is staged — are made early, in writing, while they are still cheap to reverse.
- 01
Brief and scope
You describe the science, the audience and the deadline. We come back with a written scope: what the animation covers, what is delivered, how many review rounds are included, and the delivery date.
You approve A scope you have read and agreed, before any work starts.
- 02
Script
The mechanism or procedure written out in plain sequence — what happens, in what order, and what the viewer should understand at each point. This is where scientific accuracy is settled.
You approve A written script. Correcting the science here costs a conversation; correcting it after rendering costs the render.
- 03
Storyboard
The script drawn out frame by frame: camera positions, scale transitions, what is on screen and when. You see the whole animation as stills before it moves.
You approve A storyboard you sign off. Structural changes after this point are expensive.
- 04
Modelling and look development
Anatomy, molecules or device geometry built and given materials and lighting. Device work is rebuilt from your CAD — engineering models carry detail that is invisible on screen and slow to render.
You approve Still frames showing the finished look, so the visual language is agreed before animation time is spent.
- 05
Blocking and animation
Motion, timing and camera. You first see a rough pass that establishes pacing, then the refined animation once the timing is right.
You approve A rough pass, then the final animation — reviewed as video, not stills.
- 06
Render, sound and delivery
Final frames rendered, then graded, titled and mixed with voiceover or music if the project includes them. Delivered in the formats you actually need.
You approve Final files, plus any alternate cuts agreed in the scope.
How should review rounds be handled?
Where several people need to sign off — common on device projects, which are often reviewed by marketing, regulatory, clinical and legal — collect comments into one consolidated set per stage rather than sending them in sequence. Sequential departmental rounds are the single most common reason a short project becomes a long one.