Virtual 3D Anatomy Lecture Hall

A novel virtual 3D lecture hall connects the Austrian medical universities in Linz and Graz: students can follow lectures on Virtual Anatomy and dissection work in stereoscopic 3D, live and in real-time, from over 200 kilometers away. 

This world premiere is bringing together the 3D lecture hall JKU medSPACE at the Johannes Kepler University Linz and the large anatomy lecture hall at the Medical University of Graz since the fall semester of 2024. In 2025, the project received the prestigious Inavation Award in the “Healthcare” category.

The technology was developed by the Ars Electronica Futurelab, which had already helped develop the award-winning projects JKU medSPACE and Cinematic Anatomy x Deep Space – the underlying software. The technical challenge of the virtual 3D lecture hall lies in the amount of data that has to be transmitted via high-resolution 3D streaming. 

Under the lead of Prof. Franz Fellner, virtual anatomy is taught in Linz, while Prof. Niels Hammer and his team present physical specimens in Graz. Now, students can also attend the lectures 200 km away – thanks to 3D glasses and large-format screens, in particularly vivid detail. The virtual 3D lecture hall is a live connection so that teachers and students can interact directly with each other. The aim is to achieve an even deeper understanding of the workings of the human body by combining physical specimens and virtual teaching. For this purpose, teams from both universities worked together with experts from Ars Electronica Futurelab, Outstanding Media and system integrator PKE. 

The course Virtual Anatomy is taught using Cinematic Anatomy x Deep Space: The software provides a view of organs, blood vessels, muscles, and other structures as larger-than-life, razor-sharp 3D objects that can be explored from any angle. Individual data can be displayed or hidden at the push of a button. Since 2021, the results are displayed JKU medSPACE in Linz. Up to 100 students experience each lecture in stereoscopic 3D with 8K resolution across 14×7 meters. 

World first in anatomical teaching 

In Graz, a new technical infrastructure was created for the virtual 3D lecture hall. Here, up to 500 students can follow the teaching content on a 7×4 meter LED wall, in 4K and stereoscopic 3D. In addition, a special 4K mirror rig camera is used in Graz to film anatomical specimens in 3D – another world first. The technical planning for the infrastructure of the lecture hall was carried out by the planning office Outstanding Media and implemented by PKE Electronics.

The two locations can alternately display each other’s content. Since the speakers at both locations lecture and also talk to each other, a very low latency is required for streaming. For this purpose, the Cinematic Anatomy x Deep Space controlled in Linz is also rendered in real-time in Graz. The 3D camera images are transmitted from Graz to Linz as stereoscopic Ultra HD video with 7680×2160@60Hz. Displaying 3D images required fully retaining resolution and brightness with loss-free, synchronous transmission and identical latency on the part of the 3D camera. 

Credits

Ars Electronica Futurelab: Friedrich Bachinger, Manuel Dobusch, Marianne Eisl, Roland Haring
Ars Electronica Solutions: Andreas Pramböck
Medical-Scientific Director: Franz Fellner (Kepler Universitätsklinikum/Department of Radiology)
PARTNER: Siemens Healthineers; Johannes Kepler Universität (JKU); Med Uni Graz; Outstanding Media; PKE Electronics