1. I chose to go with the anatomical illustration route, and so the most challenging part was
making the different visual elements both clearly distinct and similar in appearance to their real‐
life analogues. In particular, making the muscle segments look like muscle strands was quite
difficult, as was making sure that the bones looked like real bones, while still making them each
visually distinct. I ended up going with the orange/blue color gradient for the bones and the
red/gray colors for the muscles as these seemed to be both visually distinct while still
suggestive/intuitive of each element’s real life analogue.
Another challenging aspect was laying out the individual custom‐made sprites in 3D in the cave,
and creating masks for each (this visualization involves a large number of files as there are a
number of muscle and bone elements, and each has several versions for active/inactive or
stressed/unstressed as appropriate, as well as accompanying masks).
2. Because I wanted to show all of the anatomy simultaneously, it was important to create visually
distinct styles for each component so that with a quick glance it was obvious what was bone,
muscle, and wing despite the fact that these layers are typically all visible at once, all on top of
each other. In addition to visually distinct styles, I also strove to create visually distinct colors as
well – to the extent possible in the relatively low‐contrast environment of the CAVE. Thus, for
example, muscles are red, bones are blue/orange, and tendons are white/green.
In addition, it was important to indicate the active muscles, the flexed bones, and the activate
tendons. Inactive muscles are shown in gray, whereas activated muscles are shown in red.
Bones which are unflexed are shown in light blue, and bones which are being flexed are shown
as orange at the flex points. Tendons which are active are green, whereas inactive tendons are
white. By changing the visuals – in particular the colors – I was able to maintain the anatomical
look of the design.
3. To create a sense of the anatomy of the wing, I tried to ensure that each component – bone,
muscle, and wing looked like its physical analogue. Ideally a potential end user – in this case, a
bat expert – would be able to look at the diagram and not forget which visual representation
corresponded to which anatomical feature. I believe that by going with the anatomical view this
was minimized; a bat expert will probably not mistake a bone for a tendon, for example.
Therefore, the muscle segments are striated much like muscle often is in anatomy diagrams. In
addition, the bones have a beveled contour to give them a 3D look, much like real bones.
Tendons are white if inactive and green if activate; and they are represented by small strands