Organ Station serves as the starting point for the Anatomy Land area of Frog Island.  Here, the student gets a quick first lesson in vertebrate anatomy through examining and manipulating a 3D virtual frog.  All features of this hut are built to support this interactive examination.

The student is first greeted by a ranger, who introduces himself to the student and offers help in 3D navigation.  In future development, teachers can design missions for the ranger to give to the student.  The student will then be able to accept or decline these assignments, allowing for both structured and exploratory modes of learning.  The content for missions can be created and maintained in HTML using a simple editor, and deployed via the bottom text frame.  Teachers can vary the difficulty of the content simply by developing a set of HTML files for each level.

The virtual experience at the top 3D frame allows for exciting new twists for the conventional dissection experience.  VRML provides support for expressive cinematic effects, such as lighting cues and spatial sound.  As the student approaches the examination table, background lights dim and a spotlight focuses on the task at hand.  A voice cue instructs the student to pick up the see-through examination glasses.  An HUD (Heads Up Display) appears when the student wears the glasses.  The power button on the HUD makes the skin and muscles transparent.  It also triggers a slight yellow tinge and a soft machine buzz as cues that the "see-through" machinery has been activated.

By clicking on the different organs in the 3D world, the student can obtain specific anatomical information on the bottom text frame .  He or she can also spin the frog using the frog trackball to get a different look, or click on the various triangles on the table to see the frog in preset positions.  To access occluded structures, the student can make different organs transparent by flipping switches on the HUD.

The 3D medium poses challenging UI (User Interface) issues.  However, with intuitive interfaces and effective cueing, virtual worlds can demonstrate structures and elucidate ideas as never before.  This has been a preliminary attempt to showcase how today's virtual reality technology can make the learning of anatomy easier.  If you're interested in finding out more about the Organ Station, please visit the feedback page. The Virtual Creatures team would love to hear from you.