The Brain AR App for Android

This app will help to learn.

This application doesn’t deliver the features and capabilities it claims it does. It is limited to showing a basic 3D model. You can show/hide the six different layers. For the last two layers - skull and brain - you can “explode” them which just makes the objects in that layer push away from each other to make it easier to view them individually. With the exception of the brain, clicking on different parts of the model does nothing at all - no label or description. The brain structures in the model are extremely high level: Brainstem, Limbic System, Corpus Callosum, Thalamus, Cerebellum, Hippocampus, Basal Ganglia, Ventricle System, and right and left cerebral hemisphere. You can not dive in deeper into any of these structures. Clicking one begins a short audio clip that again provides the most basic of details. The VR option to explore neurons just provides a 360 degree view of an artistic impression of what it might look like if you were inside the brain and relatively sized to a neuron. After a short narration, a basic electrical popping sound effect that likely represents the firing of neuronal action potentials plays on loop. It uses particles (glowing balls) to illustrate signals moving down axons. Other particles float around which I assume are neurotransmitters but they just float around aimlessly. Periodic electric bolts are shown in the distance. The neurons are not scientific and fail to demonstrate meaningful anatomical structure and organization of neurons. There is absolutely no interactivity beyond the 360 view in this mode. Despite being pretty looking, it’s of no practical or applied value as to the supposed intended purpose of this application. Back to the 3D model mode, even when you have the brain layer expanded it can be very easy to inadvertently select brain region other than what you intended. Once the narration begins there is no way to stop it and you must wait for it to complete before making next selection (luckily in this respect the narrations are short but it becomes annoying notwithstanding). There is a card you can download and print that will cause the model to anchor and orientate to it. You then move around it vs using your fingers to rotate the model. However it is finicky and if the card moves the slightest bit out of sight of your camera the model resets back to floating (which is a bit odd since other AR/mixed reality systems handles this just fine and can detect flat surfaces to attach a 3D model’s position to without the aid of a card to act as a landmark. If you turn away and turn back it’ll still be there in the “position” you left it. Unclear if limitation in their implementation or maybe limitation in Google’s AR system when this was built since last update to this application was three years ago). Ultimately, you’ll find yourself just going back to having the model float so you can meaningfully rotate, zoom, etc the model via finger gestures. Total time to experience everything: less than five minutes. Looking at their website, it is clear this is just a demo application to have in their portfolio to show potential customers the type of work they can do vs. a genuine attempt to build and contribute to the iOS application ecosystem. For this reason, unless you’re looking to evaluate this company to build you an AR app, this application is of no material value and you can safely pass to next option in your search of application to help you study and explore Neuroanatomy.

This app is my favorite thing to do if I am bored. The descriptions are so good and I find so much enjoyment in learning about our brain.

Great job. What a helpful app

Need to play with it a bit more, but it's great seeing the things in 3d. It says this is part of an anatomy series... Are there more like this?