Kinemages are three-dimensional scientific illustrations that are presented as interactive computer displays. Transformations of these displays are immediate. Images can be rotated in real time, parts of displays can be turned on or off, points can be identified by picking them, and changes between different forms can be animated.
Kinemages can be viewed with a program called MAGE. MAGE can either be run as a stand alone program to display downloaded kinemages or it can be attached to a web browser (Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer) in order to display images automatically whenever they are confronted on the web.
A free copy of the MAGE software can be downloaded from http://www.prosci.org/Kinemage/MageSoftware.html.
Instructions for configuring your browser to use MAGE as an external viewer can be found here.
When viewing a kinemage, MAGE opens five windows: (1) a large main window that contains the pull down menus and image control sliders, (2) a text window, (3) a caption window, (4) an image window and (5) a banner window for starting the program. The banner window allows you to start in the regular mode or in a limited "student" mode. The regular start is preferred.
Once MAGE is started you can move among these windows either by clicking on the window itself or by pulling down the "Windows" menu and choosing "Show text," "Show caption" or "Show graphics." If you did not enter MAGE with a KIN file, you can load one, or you can change files at any point, by using the "Open File" command in the "File" pull down menu.
MAGE permits rotation of three dimensional objects in order to help viewers explore the details of their structure. If you place the cursor in the graphics window and hold down the primary mouse button, you can rotate the image by moving the mouse. Left/right motion in most of the window spins the image horizontally. Up/down motion spins it vertically. And left/right motion when the cursor is in the top sixth of the window spins the image in the plane of the screen-clockwise or counterclockwise.
Any point in the image can be picked by moving the cursor over it and clicking. The screen will display any information the author stored regarding that point (name or attributes) and it will show its distance (in three space) from the previous point clicked.
Sliders on the right edge of the main screen facilitate other user controls. Users can move into an image or away from it by using the "ZOOM" slider. Typically, users will not need to adjust either of the other two sliders. Also on the right side of the main screen, but not clear out at the edge, are a series of switches defined by the author of each specific image and linked to that image. These switches can be used to turn particular features of the image off or on and thereby to call attention to its various structural features.
Pull down menus permit other adjustments and refinements. The most useful of these menus are labeled "VIEWS" and "KINEMAGE." The user can always return to the original view specified by the author by pulling down the "VIEWS" window and choosing the "View 1" option. If the author has specified more than one view, more than one option will be highlighted, and the reader can choose any one of them simply by choosing. If the author has specified multiple images, the user can move from image top image by pulling down the "KINEMAGE" window and choosing "Next" or by choosing "Choose" and then specifying an image by number.
All this permits the author to pre-program some of the user's experience by including text and captions and by specifying particular views of particular objects. But at the same time users are completely free to interact with the pre-programmed objects and to modify their views to suit themselves. Such flexibility permits users to explore the data in their own ways and to arrive at their own conclusions.
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