Virtual Anatomy Lab Demonstration Instructions

When you Launch the 3dc.bat file from C:\vplayground\src, you will get a set-up dialog frame which allows you to set user preferences. Click on the Advanced >>> button to see all possible settings. Make sure you have the following: Type your name in the NickName text box. Click on a color for your avatar (graphical representation). Make sure the Text Chat checkbox is selected. Make sure the Ambient Audio checkbox is NOT selected. Select the Run Without Networking if you want to run the VAL locally. Otherwise, make sure the Run Without Networking is NOT selected and the Server IP Address text box shows 128.95.10.31, the demonstration server. Make sure the Code Root points to the parent subdirectory to your vplayground/src subdirectories (in my case, that's C:\). If everything looks right, click the Close button.

The Application Frame may take close to a minute to become visible. The whole Java 3D environment is being loaded as well as all the 3D models and texture images. When the VAL comes up, you should see something similar to Figure 2 (to the right). Before you move, note what you can see. The blackboard to your left can connect to the Foundational Model Server (FMS) and show a node-centric presentation of a node's parent and all its children. The cadaver table in front of you (textured gray) is where we will load the anatomy parts. The text box (labeled Node Name:) above the 3D pane will allow us to jump to any term in the FMS (loading its model if available and making it the central term in the blackboard). The pane below the 3D pane will allow us to have a simple text chat (though we will be able to speak to each other in the teleconference). You can move forward or backward with your left mouse button (and a up/down drag). You can turn right or left with your left mouse button (and a right/left drag) as well. Usually, I move the mouse toward and away from me to move and side to side to turn, one at a time (until you feel comfortable with the technique).

You can bring up a navigator frame (first option on the Tools menu) which you can position anywhere by dragging with the left button on its title bar. In Figure 2, I have put it in the lower right. I usually don't have it overlapping over the main application frame (but the figure was more concise this way). The navigator dialog frame allows you to switch between four modes. Then, you can use your left mouse button to do most things you would have to use keyboard shortcuts and other mouse buttons to accomplish otherwise. Most of the time, we will want to be in Walk mode, but notice we can Fly and Transport as well (they are other tab labels).

The first thing we will do together is to see each other. I will move forward and turn around. We will see each other's avatar (graphical representation) and I will type into the chat box at the bottom: Hi Natasha. You can respond in the text box with whatever you want to write. I will them move my avatar back along side of you after taking a quick tour so our audience can see the cadaver room.

The next thing we will do together is walk over to the FMS blackboard and show everyone how we can share it together over the internet. We will click down the hierarchy with our middle mouse button to find the Lung and when we do the Lung will be loaded on the cadaver table (see Figure 4). Figure 3 shows the FMS blackboard as it will appear when we first load the application. It is a node-centric view, so the current node being displayed will always be the lower of the two white terms (Anatomical entity in Figure 3). The current node's parent will always appear as the top white term on the blackboard (the root, here in the figure, as it will always be at the beginning). All children will appear in a circular fashion around the central term. Yellow terms are parts-of (as the legend reminds). Each relationship has a different color. We will work our way down to the Lung together. If either one of us clicks on a term, it will become the central node on both of our FMS blackboards. I will start off by middle-button clicking on Physical Anatomical Entity. Then, after I explain what has happened to our audience, you will middle-button click on Material Physical Anatomical Entity. My blackboard will update to reflect your action. Then, I will take it down the hierarchy from there: Anatomical Structure, then Organ, then Viscus, then Parenchymatous Viscus, and then Lung! When I get the Lung as the central term, we will back away and look at the cadaver table. The Lung will be presented there. Figure 4 shows what it will look like in my view assuming you are behind me. If you are in front of me, I will see the little pointer represented by your camera view (in the color you chose at the beginning).

Note that the blackboard is updated with the Lung as the central term (or take my word for it). As we are looking at the cadaver table, I will type Esophagus into the Node Name: text box above. The Esophagus will appear on the cadaver table in its anatomically correct location and orientation in the cadaver. I will then show how we can work our way up the hierarchy on the FMS blackboard. You can move over to the blackboard or just watch from behind. I will move from Esophagus up to Anatomical Structure again and then down to Skull (through Organ System Subdivision, then Subdivision of skeletal system, and then Skull). The Skull will load. I will load the Heart and Spine quickly (or if you want to do more, just let me know) so we have lots of anatomy to show off the ability to move body parts in 3-D. With a three button mouse, you interact with the anatomy as follows: Right mouse button - hold the right mouse button down with the cursor over the part you want to move. Move the mouse toward and away from your body to move the part toward or away from the bookshelf. Move the mouse right and left to move the body part side to side relative to the bookshelf. Hold the Shift key while you move the mouse toward and away from you to move the body part up and down. Middle mouse button - click on a body part to make it the central term on the blackboard. Hold the Shift key down and the middle button down while dragging to rotate the body part around the X and Y axes.

After we move body parts at will (I will start and then you will move some -- we can review the camera tools. The camera short-cut angles can be reached as follows from the numpad (with Num Lock on of course): 0 - camera in your head (like eyes) 1 - move the camera up 2 - high above looking down 3 - move the camera down 4 - rotate the camera counterclockwise 5 - above looking down 6 - rotate the camera clockwise 7 - camera far over left shoulder 8 - camera behind avatar 9 - camera over right shoulder Figure 5 shows the Virtual Anatomy Lab from above (NUMPAD-5 and then a few NUMPAD-1s). Feel free to play with the menu options and the Fly, Walk, and Transport panes of the navigator tool. The fly mode lets you leave the ground plane and fly around the VAL. Transport mode lets you bookmark locations in the room so you can return to them later.