Embryodynamics - Embryology and medical computer animated drawings

General questions
Animation questions
Commercial and licensing questions
1. How much will an animation cost?
2. Where do I find these animations?
Technical and computer-related questions
Other miscellaneous questions

General answers
1. What is 'Embyodynamics'?
  Embryodynamics is the name under which Radivoj Krstic and Alexandre Krstic provide computer animated drawings explaining the normal development and the malformation of tissues and organs in the human embryo. The name 'embryodynamics' refers to human embryology and the idea of bringing motion to the description of those processes.
2. Who is working on this project?
  The embryological aspects, structure and drawings are realised by Radivoj Krstic, Honorary Professor of the Medical Faculty, in Lausanne, Switzerland, and author of many histological books. He has been designing these animations for more than 10 years, as an aid for his student lectures.
  The technical and computer developments are written by Alexandre Krstic, Ing. ETS, currently working for a major computer company.
3. When will it be released?
  The project is still under development. However, the first public beta versions are expected to be released later in 2007.
4. How much will it cost?
  The pricing model is still under investigation.
Answers about animations
1. What is an Embryodynamics 'animation'?
  An animation describes a normal embryological process (such as the development of the tooth or the central nervous system) in the human embryo. Each animation is organised in chapters covering a specific aspect of the process in details, for example under a different magnification or under another projection. Each chapter contains a series of black and white drawings, displayed in sequence to create an animated effect. At different stages in the animation, captions help the user to understand the elements on the screen. Malformations are also often animated and explained.
  By using simple and accurate drawings, an Embryodynamics animation brings action to static drawings usually found in embryology books, while still keeping every pedagogical benefit of a streamlined illustration.
  Support characters and a few humorous scenes are included in some animations.
2. What are the topics covered?
  Until now, there over 50 animations in development, covering fertilisation, the development of the face, the teeth, the eye, the pancreas, the central nervous system, etc... The full list can be found in the animations section.
3. How do I navigate in an animation?
  A 'remote control' window enables you to navigate within an animation or between animations. This remote control can be positioned anywhere on the screen or even hidden, either for projection purposes or on systems with small screens. Animations can be controlled using keyboard shortcuts as well.
  The remote control allows you to select any chapter from a menu, to jump between chapters and illustrations, to play or pause an animation, and allows you to access other settings such as the animation speed.
4. How do I update an animation?
  As the accuracy of any learning material is essential, every Embryodynamics animation contains a built-in update system for chapters and captions through a standard Internet connexion. These minor updates are automated and do not take long to complete. Major updates (such as changes in the drawings themselves or the chapter layout) require the download of a full animation package.
5. What is 'multi-lingual' support?
  Embryodynamics animations are designed to support a wide range of languages, although the default supplied language is English. If an animation has been translated, language options will appear in the remote control window.
6. What level of support do I get?
  The support plan is still under construction. In all cases, you will be able to post a feedback message.
Commercial answers
1. How much will an animation cost?
  Pricing is still under investigation.
2. Where do I find these animations?
  Embryodynamics animations are not yet available as downloads from the Internet. However, the animations section contains the current list of animations and their chapters.
Technical and computer-related questions
1. On which platform does an animations run?
  Embryodynamics animations will be released as stand-alone applications for Apple Macintosh, any Windows-based PC, any Linux-based system, and on request for other Unix systems like, Solaris or HP-UX. Animations do not need any special extensions, add-ons, libraries or DLL to run.
2. What are the minimal hardware requirements?
  Any computer with 256 MB of RAM, between 5 and 20 MB per animation of hard disk space, a monitor capable of displaying VGA images (640 x 480 pixels), with a mouse and/or keyboard (no need for a sound card, or a printer). A modem or network card with an Internet connection is required for updates and downloads. TabletPC are supported as 'standard' PCs.
  PDAs (Palm, PocketPC, etc.) are not supported.
  As always, the more memory your computer has available, and the faster its processor is, the easier your life will become. However, since Embryodynamics animations have been designed from the beginning with minimal resource requirements, you really do not need the latest technology.
3. What are the minimal software requirements?
  Embryodynamics animations run on :
  - Windows 95, 98, 98SE, Me, NT4.0, 2000, XP (no support for Windows 3.1x and NT3.5x)
  - MacOS X, 10.x
  - any PowerPC or Intel Linux distribution 2.0x or later, with an X environment
  - on request, FreeBSD, HP-UX, IRIX, AIX, Solaris X86, SPARC Solaris or SunOS, with an X environment
  Some features may require an Internet browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0X or later, Netscape 4 or later, Firefox, Opera, etc.). Files retrieved from the Internet are compressed and require a decompression utility like StuffIt Expander, Winzip or any tar suite.
4. What is the size of an animation?
  Animations and their language packs are available online as compressed files, and vary in size from 1MB and 3MB. Once expanded, each animation will take up to 20 MB of hard disk space. Language packs alone, when downloaded as part of a minor animation update, will usually be less than 100KB.
5. How long does it take to download/update?
  Transfer time over the Internet depends on various factors. If you have a modem, you should count up to 30 minutes download time per animation. Broadband users (xDSL, Tx) need only a few minutes. Language pack updates, because of their small size, are transferred in a couple of minutes.
6. What level of support do I get?
  The support plan is still under construction. In all cases, you will be able to post a feedback message.
Other miscellaneous answers
1. Why hasn't the web site changed in a long time?
  Although this site is up to date, there are no plans to change it every day and this is the reason that you always see the same contents. The current priority is to keep on working on the animations.
2. What is your privacy policy statement?
  Currently, we do not use cookies.
  When posting a feedback, your email and IP addresses are the only required information recorded; the other fields are optional and will be recorded if filled in as well. We will never sell, rent or give your email address or your personal data to anybody else.
  Animations may exchange data regarding your system and its configuration for update purposes; animations have access to read and write data to your system.
  Third-party companies or partners (like mirror sites, merchant sites and/or banking sites) have different privacy statement policies. Please refer to their web site for more information.

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