3-D Anatomy
for Students

Objectives

The main objective of this project is to use 3-D models to help students understand complex 3-D anatomical relationships that are difficult to learn using cadavers and 2-D atlases.

A secondary objective of this project is to develop tools, based on VRML and Java, which permit extensive interaction with the models.

The models presented here are based on data from the NLM's Visible Human Project^TM. They are still under development and are not guaranteed to be anatomically correct.

Interactive models

If your system satisfies the system requirements described below, select one of the following models:			Help
Female pelvis	Male pelvis	Head

If you have already installed the JFC Swing library on your computer, you can save download time by using one of the following links to select a model:
Female pelvis	Male pelvis	Head

Samples

If you have a VRML 2 viewer but don't satisfy the other system requirements, you can view this sample model which includes the female pelvis, part of the urinary tract, a cross-sectional image and a label. The model can be rotated and zoomed, but the other interactive functions are not available.

If you don't have a VRML 2 viewer, you can look at these sample 2-D images generated from our models.

A number of sample quiz questions have been created from the 3-D models.

System requirements

The fully interactive models should be usable on any system having the following:

Netscape Navigator 4.06 or higher, or any other Web browser that supports the JDK 1.1 Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT)
Cosmo Player 2.0 or higher, or any other EAI-compliant VRML 2.0 viewer
optionally, for reduced downloading time, the JFC Swing library

We know about a number of specific configurations that currently work, or at least should work.

Known bugs

If you close your Web browser after running this applet, your Web browser may not re-launch. First wait a few moments to allow Netscape to completely release its resources. If this does not work, logging in as a new user should fix things up.
Your Web browser may crash if you exit while a VRML object is blinking.
CosmoPlayer 2.1 isn't compatible with Netscape Communicator 4.6. Please update to the 4.61 version.

Student authors

Martin Girard, Med Class of 2000
David Luckow, Med Class of 2001
David Hauerstock, M Eng Candidate
Dimitrios Kyritsis, Med Class of 2002

Project supervisors

Robert Funnell, Depts. BioMedical Engineering & Otolaryngology
Philip Warrick, McGill Medical Informatics Project
Ayman Behiery, Dept. Anatomy & Cell Biology

This project is neither supported nor endorsed by the Anatomy Advisory Committee of the Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology.

We'd very much appreciate receiving your comments and suggestions!

This site has been visited times since 1999 July 27.

CM³

3-D Anatomy for Students