Movable 3D Human Model
This page explains how to do some of the basic operations in KineBody Movable 3D Skeleton, such as identifying bones, selecting joints, and moving the body or individual joints. The instructions apply to KineBody Basic, our free edition, as well as KineBody Pro, our subscription edition (except where noted).
The instructions differ somewhat for mouse & keyboard input vs. touch screens. Select the type of input you’re using via the tabs shown:
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Start KineBody (Basic Edition) | |||||||||||||||
KineBody is a web app: to use it, you have to open up a Chrome or Firefox browser, and then load the
KineBody webapp page, by any of these methods:
(Of course, after your 1st visit, you can save the link to the webapp as a bookmark for faster access next time). Before the app loads, you'll be presented with a panel that requests your agreement with our Terms of Service. If you agree, press the 'I Agree' button to open the app. Troubleshooting
During normal startup, your screen should show the following sequence:
If you don't see this sequence when you start the app, here are some possible causes & solutions:
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Identify a bone | |||||||||||||||
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Move the entire skeleton | |||||||||||||||
You can move the full skeleton by dragging across the viewing area, or (for Pro users) by using the (white) sliders: ![]()
A) Drag across the viewing area
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B) Use the white sliders (Pro version only)
Troubleshooting
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Select a joint | |||||||||||||||
You have to select a joint before you can move it. There are two ways to select (and deselect) a joint:
A) Click in the viewing area
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B) Use the 'Moving joint' menu:
![]() DetailsThis section presents some relevant background and limitations related to Selecting a Joint. Not all joints are movableOf all the anatomical joints that allow movement between bones, not all can be moved in KineBody, for various reaons:
Bone unitsSometimes when you click on one bone to select its associated joint, many of its neighbors also turn blue, and the ‘associated’ joint may be some distance from the bone you clicked. This happens when the bone belongs to a KineBody bone unit: a set of adjacent bones that have no movable KineBody joints between them. Some of the characteristics of KineBody bone units are described in this section.
Associating bones with jointsIn KineBody, you can select a joint by clicking on a nearby bone. In many cases, you select the joint by clicking on the 'bone you want to move'. This feature presumes a special association between bones and joints, which is described in this section. For the most part, the bones & joints in KineBody are organized into a well-defined 'family-tree' hierarchy, with the following characteristics:
As the root of the tree, the thorax plays a special role. For one, it's the only bone or unit without a parent, and it has no associated joint. Thus, when you click on the thorax, nothing 'happens': there is no joint to select, no special sliders appear, and the thorax retains its normal bone color. [To clarify the last part: when a bone is colored blue, it means the associated joint is currently selected]. Additional information about the bone-joint hierarchy, including the full list of bone & joint names, is provided here. |
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Move a joint | |||||||||||||||
After you select a joint (above), you can move it by dragging your cursor overt the viewing area, or (for Pro users) by using the (gray) aliders:
A) Drag across the viewing area
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B) Use the gray sliders (Pro version only)
![]() Troubleshooting
DetailsThis section provides additional information re: operation of some special joints in KineBody. Shoulder joints (sterno-clavicular & acromio-clavicular)In KineBody, the shoulder has a special property, whereby the scapula is forced to follow the posterior ribs, whenever you move the sterno-clavicular or acromio-clavicular joint. This property requires some special changes to the regular KineBody joint behavior. This is evident if you select the acromio-clavicular joint (by clicking on the scapula): three joint sliders will appear, but only one ('down/upward rotation') is usable, the other two being disabled. Yet, if you move the down/upward rotation slider, you can observe changing values at the other two sliders. In essence, the two disabled sliders are being used to enforce the constraint that makes the scapula follow the ribs. To put it another way, if these sliders were enabled, you could move the scapula unrealistically, away from the ribs, or into the ribs. A similar situation occurs when you move the sterno-clavicular joint, but it's not readily apparent. In this case, two degrees of freedom (DOFs) for the acromio-clavicular joint are being used to keep the scapula close to the ribs, but the sliders for those DOFs aren't shown. [Note: the current scapula constraint mechanism can be overridden, to allow full 3 DOF movement, via the Unlimited ROM feature in KineBody Pro / Advanced Option]. Neck & lumbar spine (Pro only)KineBody Pro allows you to move multiple spine joints with a single control, in the neck or lumbar regions. You can select either of these 'joint groups', by name in the Moving joint menu. Or, to select the neck, click on the skull (group); for the lumbar region, click on the sacrum. Once selected, you can move the joints using the regular methods, i.e., using the gray joint sliders, or by dragging across the viewing area. Note that when moving these joint groups, the rotation axes (pink, yellow, & cyan) sometimes move more 'freely' than regular/indivdual KineBody joints. That is, for a regular joint, if you try to rotate about any single axis, that axis will remain fixed in space...but if you try the same for the neck or lumbar spine, you can often observe the rotation axis changing its direction in space. This behavior is a side effect of the current joint-group mechanism *. Also note that the axes for these joint groups are rendered using dashed lines; this is done only to indicate that the axes may exhibit irregular behavior (i.e., by design - this is not a bug per se). You can also select & move indivdual spinal joints, using the regular KineBody methods, with a couple of exceptions: of the neck joints, you can't move the Occiput-C1 joint individually, and the same goes for the L5S1 joint in the lumbar region. The reason is that, within the software, the group joint mechanism 'borrows' some of the regular parts from the individual joints. For instance, the neck uses the slider that would normally actuate the Occiput-C1 joint. Again, this is a limitation of the current joint group mechanism *. * An improved mechanism which circumvents this effect is planned for future development, and, 'should be ready by Thanksgiving' (in some yet to be determined year). |
Features: a guide to the features available in various KineBody editions.
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Understand the features & limitations of touch screen input. | ||||||||||||||||
Features
KineBody (both Basic & Pro versions) offers touch input capability for the most important KineBody operations, including:
It further provides intuitive touch operation for conventional buttons, checkboxes, menus, and similar controls. Furthermore, touch input allows you to do some operations that aren't possible on non-touch screens. In particular, you can use 'two finger' gestures to control the body position, i.e. to pan or ‘zoom’ the body, and you can do these simultaneously in all 3 directions (x,y,z). Also, if your touch device supports input from mouse &/or keyboard (e.g., via bluetooth, for Android), the KineBody features related to those inputs (such as special modes using modifier keys ([Ctrl], [Alt], [Shift])) should also work on your touch device. LimitationsKineBody touch-compatibility has been developed & tested to work with operating systems and browsers as follows:
Please note: This list is not exhaustive: touch-compatible KineBody may work on other operating systems & browsers, but we haven't been able to evaluate all possibilities. Also: this list is not guaranteed. There may be some devices that match the list above, but still can't run KineBody properly, owing to old/slow processors, low memory, old OS or browser versions, etc. [If you observe slow or clunky operation using Chrome, for instance, please try Firefox as an alternative, if possible.] KineBody's touch input capability is intended primarily for high-performance tablets, in landscape orientation. It will work on smartphones, however, it may be difficult to use on small screens, as the controls may be close together or close to the screen edge, which could impair access for ‘fat fingers’. Additionally, the current version is not well suited for ‘portrait’ orientation. You’re welcome to try KineBody on a smartphone in landscape mode, but please be patient while we adapt the screen layout for portrait orientation and finger width. Also note that some of the features in KineBody are associated with mouse or keyboard input, and so they won't work, or work differently, for touch screens (unless your device supports such connections). For example, actions involving modifier keys ( [Ctrl],[Alt],[Shift]) are only available if you have keyboard input; so, for example, you won't be able to select medium or fine sensitivity for the sliders. Please visit our Limitations page for a full list. The following sections describe how to use KineBody with touch screen input, with emphasis on those operations that differ markedly from their non-touch equivalents. |
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Identify a bone | ||||||||||||||||
You can determine the name of any bone as follows:
DetailsMulti-purpose TappingOn touch screens, when you tap in the viewing area, several things can happen: you can 'identify' bones (= view their names), you can select or deselect joints (to set them up for movement), and (in KineBody Pro/ Advanced), you can show or hide bones. You can understand the identifying and selecting behavior most readily via the effect of tapping on a white (uncolored) bone:
If the bone isn't white when you tap on it, you’ll get an effect that depends on the current bone color. For instance, if you tap When you tap in the viewing area, the bones can take on several different colors, to represent their states, as follows:
You should be able to understand the meanings of the different bone colors after a short amount of practice. And, if it's not obvious, the purple coloration is intended to suggest a combination of blue & orange, and equivalently, to represent a combination of identified & selected. To understand what happens in other cases, when you tap on colored bones or alternative bones, or the black background, you only need to understand a few basic principles:
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Move the entire skeleton | ||||||||||||||||
Here are serveral ways you can move the full skeleton:
A) Drag across the viewing area with 2 fingers
You can translate the body in the horizontal (x), vertical (y), or distance (z) directions, at any time, using intuitive 2-finger gestures, as follows:
B) Drag across the viewing area using 1 finger
C) Use the white sliders (Pro version only)
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Select a joint | ||||||||||||||||
You have to select a joint before you can move it. There are two ways to select (and deselect) a joint:
A) Tap in the viewing area
Caution (Pro users only): If you press & hold your finger down (instead of immediately retracting it), you may inadvertently invoke the 'Show/Hide Bones' mode, instead of selecting a joint. If this happens, tap & hold again, to revert to regular joint selection mode - then retry tapping (quicker) to select the joint.
B) Use the 'Moving joint' menu:
DetailsThis section presents some relevant background and limitations related to Selecting a Joint. Not all joints are movableOf all the anatomical joints that allow movement between bones, not all can be moved in KineBody, for various reaons:
Bone unitSometimes when you click on one bone to select its associated joint, many of its neighbors also turn blue, and the ‘associated’ joint may be some distance from the bone you clicked. This happens when the bone belongs to a KineBody bone unit: a set of adjacent bones that have no movable KineBody joints between them. Some of the characteristics of KineBody bone units are described in this section.
Associating bones with jointsIn KineBody, you can select a joint by clicking on a nearby bone. In many cases, you select the joint by clicking on the 'bone you want to move'. This feature presumes a special association between bones and joints, which is described in this section. For the most part, the bones & joints in KineBody are organized into a well-defined 'family-tree' hierarchy, with the following characteristics:
As the root of the tree, the thorax plays a special role. For one, it's the only bone or unit without a parent, and it has no associated joint. Thus, when you click on the thorax, nothing 'happens': there is no joint to select, no special sliders appear, and the thorax retains its normal bone color. [To clarify the last part: when a bone is colored blue, it means the associated joint is currently selected]. Additional information about the bone-joint hierarchy, including the full list of bone & joint names, is provided here. |
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Move a joint | ||||||||||||||||
After you select a joint (above), you can move it by dragging your cursor overt the viewing area, or (for Pro users) by using the (gray) aliders:
A) Drag across the viewing area using 1 finger
B) Use the gray sliders (Pro version only)
Troubleshooting
DetailsThis section provides additional information re: operation of some special joints in KineBody. Shoulder joints (sterno-clavicular & acromio-clavicular)In KineBody, the shoulder has a special property, whereby the scapula is forced to follow the posterior ribs, whenever you move the sterno-clavicular or acromio-clavicular joint. This property requires some special changes to the regular KineBody joint behavior. This is evident if you select the acromio-clavicular joint (by clicking on the scapula): three joint sliders will appear, but only one ('down/upward rotation') is usable, the other two being disabled. Yet, if you move the down/upward rotation slider, you can observe changing values at the other two sliders. In essence, the two disabled sliders are being used to enforce the constraint that makes the scapula follow the ribs. To put it another way, if these sliders were enabled, you could move the scapula unrealistically, away from the ribs, or into the ribs. A similar situation occurs when you move the sterno-clavicular joint, but it's not readily apparent. In this case, two degrees of freedom (DOFs) for the acromio-clavicular joint are being used to keep the scapula close to the ribs, but the sliders for those DOFs aren't shown. [Note: the current scapula constraint mechanism can be overridden, to allow full 3 DOF movement, via the Unlimited ROM feature in KineBody Pro / Advanced Option]. Neck & lumbar spine (Pro only)KineBody Pro allows you to move multiple spine joints with a single control, in the neck or lumbar regions. You can select either of these 'joint groups', by name in the Moving joint menu. Or, to select the neck, click on the skull (group); for the lumbar region, click on the sacrum. Once selected, you can move the joints using the regular methods, i.e., using the gray joint sliders, or by dragging across the viewing area. Note that when moving these joint groups, the rotation axes (pink, yellow, & cyan) sometimes move more 'freely' than regular/indivdual KineBody joints. That is, for a regular joint, if you try to rotate about any single axis, that axis will remain fixed in space...but if you try the same for the neck or lumbar spine, you can often observe the rotation axis changing its direction in space. This behavior is a side effect of the current joint-group mechanism *. Also note that the axes for these joint groups are rendered using dashed lines; this is done only to indicate that the axes may exhibit irregular behavior (i.e., by design - this is not a bug per se). You can also select & move indivdual spinal joints, using the regular KineBody methods, with a couple of exceptions: of the neck joints, you can't move the Occiput-C1 joint individually, and the same goes for the L5S1 joint in the lumbar region. The reason is that, within the software, the group joint mechanism 'borrows' some of the regular parts from the individual joints. For instance, the neck uses the slider that would normally actuate the Occiput-C1 joint. Again, this is a limitation of the current joint group mechanism *. * An improved mechanism which circumvents this effect is planned for future development, and, 'should be ready by Thanksgiving' (in some yet to be determined year). |
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View tooltips | ||||||||||||||||
Tooltips for touch input are available for users of our Experimental Edition only (= mobile, Android or iPhone).
To view a tooltip for any control: Press & hold on the control you're interested in, until the tooltip appears. The tooltip will show as long as you hold your finger down. While it's down, you can slide your finger out of the way, if it obscures your view of the tooltip. [The last technique doesn't work on any of the body or joint movement sliders - for these, the tooltip will disappear immediately when you move your finger, and your finger movement will be interpreted as a slider commmand]. |
Special instructions for iphone & ipad users
Limitations (primarily related to touch screens & mobile devices)
Page code credits: 'accordion table' components by: http://www.jankoatwarpspeed.com/wp-content/uploads/examples/expandable-rows/