ONLINE RESOURCE REVIEW

Primal pictures anatomy teaching resources: 3Danatomy software and 3D real-time viewer

For product details see http://www.primalpictures.com

Modern computer graphic technology has led to an

increasing demand for e-learning resources, especially in

anatomy, a visual subject where true three-dimensional

learning in the form of dissection has been replaced in

many universities. There are several anatomical computer

programmes or applications on the market, but according

to its website, the company Primal Pictures was set up with

the express purpose of creating an accurate and detailed

three-dimensional anatomical model of the human body,

based on medical data from scans that were subsequently

interpreted by anatomists or clinicians and then converted

into computer images and animations. The resulting

product is a comprehensive piece of software that can

encompass an enormous range of features – depending on

the amount you are prepared to pay. Not only computer-

ised images, but also MRI scans, slides of cadaveric dissec-

tions, photographs of pathological specimens or patients,

photographs taken during surgery, movies, and a host of

diagrammatic and written information is also available.

Much of the supporting material can be saved or printed

and many of the other features can be exported for use in

presentations. Primal Pictures seem to be continually broad-

ening their products, and, in addition to the regional or

systemic anatomical material available, offer many different

packages for specialist markets such as dentistry, sports

therapy, otolaryngology or even acupuncture.

The software is aimed at both professionals (in many

clinical fields and anatomy education) and students, with

the company claiming that over 500,000 students use it in

the UK alone.

The products to which access was given for this review

included several different components of the material avail-

able on http://www.anatomy.tv: interactive systemic anat-

omy, interactive regional anatomy, surgical and functional

anatomy and the 3D real-time body. In all of these, the soft-

ware is easy to use and quite intuitive. Helpful animated

videos demonstrate the basics, and experimentation with

the buttons on the screen quickly allows mastery of the

rest.

The systemic anatomy package gives a brief overview of

most of the body systems and includes short quizzes for

self-testing, although occasionally the item being high-

lighted for identification is hard to find, even when made

to flash. However, the software comes into its own in the

regional interactive sections. Here, the computerised

anatomical images can be ‘dissected’ layer by layer, with

skin, fascia, vessels, nerves, lymphatics, muscles, bones and

ligaments appearing or disappearing as the layers are

added or removed. The image can also be rotated through

360� to be viewed from different angles. Hovering over any

anatomical structure outlines it with a label revealing its

identity, while clicking on it brings up detailed notes. This is

easy and helpful, but sometimes the exhausting amount of

detail provided both in the model and in the notes is proba-

bly unnecessary for most users, and may be off-putting for

many students of anatomy. It may be realistic to see large

numbers of, for example, veins and arteries around a joint,

but most users would probably prefer to see just the main

vessels without becoming bogged down in so much detail.

MRIs of the region are also available, appearing in parallel

with the anatomical models, and beautifully produced

videos demonstrate the functional aspects of structures such

as muscles, ligaments and joints. Many of these should be

extremely useful for people who work in functional anat-

omy fields such as biomechanics, physiotherapy and kinae-

siology, while others seem a little pointless, for example

protrusion of the lips. The videos can be slowed down by

using the slide bar to control the movement, so analysis

of the movement is straightforward and undemanding.

Most areas also offer large numbers of clinical and dissec-

tion slides, again with accompanying material.

The 3D real-time body software allows detailed examina-

tion of various regions. Although named 3D, the images

are more accurately two-dimensional representations of the

three-dimensional model. Having said that, the graphics are

superb, so it feels like real 3D. The anatomy covered is simi-

lar to the regional anatomy package, but the approach is

somewhat different, as structures such as nerves, veins,

arteries, muscles, organs or fascia can be individually added

to or removed from the model, which itself can be rotated

in any direction, zoomed in or out, and moved across the

screen using the mouse alone. This should improve visual

understanding of spatial position and relationships, as indi-

vidual structures can be viewed from any direction or angle.

When the software was tried out with a wired Internet

connection, the changeovers between pictures was fast,

with moving images and animations only marginally

slower. However, using it through a fast wifi connection

was sometimes frustratingly slow, with lag times rather

ªª 2011 The AuthorJournal of Anatomy ªª 2011 Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

J. Anat. (2012) 220, pp118–119 doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01446.x

Journal of Anatomy

longer, sometimes leading to incorrect labels being left on

the screen when new pictures were projected.

The enormous and complex range of products, ranging

from DVDs costing one or two hundred pounds to multi-

user institutional licences giving 20 concurrent users online

access to all packages for close to £30,000, should ensure

that no matter what your budget, there is a product that

will suit you.

There is no doubt that an enormous amount of work

went into preparing these excellent resources and they are

great fun to use. Whether student learning is universally

improved is less clear, but this interactive system would cer-

tainly be an outstanding adjunct to existing methods and

highly attractive to many teachers and learners of anatomy.

Tracey Wilkinson

Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

E-mail: wilkinsonAT@cardiff.ac.uk

ªª 2011 The AuthorJournal of Anatomy ªª 2011 Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland

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