CIE Project Catalog
Consults: Harland Patch + Christina Grozinger
Provided for: College of Agriculture + ECOS
As this project progressed we realized that an arrow navigation between the internal and external label systems was not intuitive. It was recommended by Zac Zidik to use tabs with text instead, this option was later expanded to a 4 tab menu to accommodate the detail views and animations added to the experience. We removed the extraneous eye icons in the menu and added a checkmark to better communicate which labels are selected as opposed to a simple text color change.
Portions of anatomical structures that were not shown on the 3D model due to their complexity were represented by 2D illustrations overlaid with transparency on a still view of the model for the dorsal and sagittal sections. These structures included the Malpighian tubules, spiracles and vascular sacs. After meeting with Harland and Christina on Sept 10th 2021 we agreed to the expand these views to include the endocrine system for the sagittal section which included 8 glands. These structures were represented in red as they are very small and this color provides the most visually distinct contrast from the rest of the organ systems and the model.
To increase structural legibility a highlight was added to structures activated during mouseover of its corresponding label. This was most essential for the small, closely spaced and similarly colored structures that make up the mouthparts. Dusty fuchsia was chosen as the highlight color to compliment the pastel background and provide contrast to the background and other organ structure’s colors without being overly bright and abrasive to the eye.
At Harland’s request the color of the textures were changed from dark brown to a less saturated and brighter taupe to further improve visibility of external anatomical structures. It was also suggested to change the design palette to be friendlier, softer and brighter. The menu shape was altered to be more rounded and nested in the upper left corner. This was inspired by the new color scheme which was more pastel like a sky at sunset. The new menu is visually akin to the sun peaking out from behind clouds. The slider bar and labels were also rounded off to match this new UI styling. Wide lettered sans serif fonts like baloo and arial were used due to their distinct vowel shape which makes them more legible for those with disabilities such as dyslexia.
A shader was applied in Maya to see if we could emulate the bee’s fuzzy texture, but did not appear to translate well into unity so we opted for manually painting the texture to create the illusion of hair. In nature these hairs are buff yellow which is a stark contrast to the dark exoskeleton, so to imitate this I used a lower opacity grass brush and painted the fur texture in layers to communicate the illusion of hair while still allowing the main color to show through.
Pollen baskets were added to the textures on the two hind legs using yellow brush and a dissolve filter to mimic the particles of pollen. Alex Fatemi edited the exterior structures of the model and created animations to demonstrate essential honey bee behaviors including packing the pollen baskets, the prehensile nature of the proboscis, and the motion of the wings in flight.
Bart Masters and Andy Kennedy both programmed the tool using Unity for publication on the CIE website.
We plan to distribute a questionnaire to assess student knowledge preceding and following their class period and engaging with the virtual anatomy too. We were not able to get IRB approval in time for professional research in advance of this survey so our plan is to use this informal assessment to better understand the benefits and future development need of the tool internally. The google form includes questions about each individuals impression of the experience in order to highlight what part of the model was most helpful toward their understanding of the subject. We also wanted to examine the learning styles and favored subjects of the students as it holds relevancy into how a tactile/visual tool may have greater perceived benefit as a supplemental learning aid in a potential future iteration using VR. This data will be collected and analyzed to determine any necessary changes or positive learning outcomes.
The final outcome of this web tool can be found here: https://cie.psu.edu/BeeModel/