Cat Heart Interactive
http://kpn-interactive.com/
Platform: Mobile (iOS, Android)
Developed in: Unity
So in the spirit of finding things that crush MRP dreams, Brendan showed me this
$25.00 app that has
some overlap with aspects of his, Nicole's, and my MRPs. But then, that should be expected as it is an anatomy teaching application. Here is a breakdown of some of the interactive elements and whether I feel the execution is successful.
Top left tools:
1. Reset view
2. Quick legend display toggle
Minimized Menu tab appears on the bottom and opens up different "modes" or access points to information contained in the application.
The feature of interest, "Anatomy", calls up an obstructive and poorly designed list of structures that the user can side-scroll through. Selecting a structure will bring up the label and a leader-line pointing at the relevant structure. If the structure is deep to what is currently visible on screen, it is semi-ghosted in at it's anatomical location. Only one structure can be selected at any one time as bringing up the anatomy list to select a structure will deselect the first one.
Interesting feature is that comments are shown at relevant points. When a structure that is not currently visible is selected, a comment appears suggesting the user to view a "cut" of the heart to get a better look. Which brings is to the portion of the app that is relevant to this MRP: the cut/slice feature.
The slider on the right of the screen appears when the "sections" mode is selected from the bottom menu. From the look of it, slices are pre-determined. The slider is not continuous and jumps to certain longitudinal planes (you have to go in and select transverse section mode to slice in transverse). When the plane appears, half of the heart on one side of the plane retains its photorealistic textures while the other side gets a blue overlay. However, this is slightly confusing as the side of the heart that is left when the "CUT" button is pressed, is the side that was BLUE. I feel this should be reversed (view below).
This gives indication that there should be some cue to the naive user which portion of the organ should be sliced.
As for the sectioned 3D models themselves, they are pre-rendered and the cut button likely calls up the sectioned mesh to be displayed over the original whole heart. There is a title of the top centre that describes the new model/section.
The planes selected have anatomical significance (e.g. "Five chamber view from left"; "Three chamber view from right" etc.)
The application also includes an "interior view" of the heart a la Magic School Bus. I personally don't see the value of this option as the proximity of structures to the camera and the lack of space within the atria/ventricles of the heart make it difficult to observe any meaningful anatomical relationships. Furthermore, there is no cue that allows the user to orient him or herself in the heart.
In terms of textual content, there is a "comments" option in the menu, which brings up a document that the user can read through. it is not correlated or integrated with the interactive heart itself.
Immediately Apparent Take Away Points:
- Include some cue or indicator as to what side of the plane will be sliced when positioning the slicing plane
- Possibly include some pre-set plane locations that are anatomically "conventional" or meaningful
