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Northwestern Health Sciences University

Visible Body: Courseware and Human Anatomy Atlas

How to access and use the University's subscription to Visible Body.

Troubleshooting

The single most important step in using either Courseware or Human Anatomy Atlas is to BE PATIENT WHILE THE IMAGES LOAD!  Loading can take some time (longer if your internet service provider is slow). You just have to wait it out and let the entire platform/website load before you click the Refresh or Back buttons.  Trust that it's loading.

TL:DR - Wait for it to load. Best used with Chrome, Safari or Firefox.

Do not try to use Courseware on a mobile browser, download the app instead.

Launch Issues

The first time you launch the application, your browser will automatically download our highly detailed anatomical models. This download can take several minutes to complete, depending on the speed of your internet connection. 

Try these troubleshooting steps

  1. Confirm your computer meets the minimum system requirements
  2. Confirm you have a reliable high-speed internet connection
    • A wired internet connection is best
    • Wi-Fi network and signal strengths can be extremely variable depending on hardware configuration, interference, number of devices connected to the network, and activity
    • Test your internet connection speeds with a speed test such as speedtest.net, fast.com or testmy.net
    • Reboot your modem and router and turn off other devices to ensure optimal performance
  3. Check the size of your browser cache.

​If your browser cache is large enough, you may not need to download the anatomy files when you return to the app. Here are instructions to increase the browser cache size. We recommend a browser cache size of at least 350 MB

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Slow Performance

Performance while running Visible Body via a web browser is not as fast as expected. What can I do?

Try these troubleshooting steps

  1. Confirm your computer meets the minimum system requirements.
  2. Quit/exit other applications: Visible Body apps are resource-intensive. To get the best possible performance, please exit/quit other applications/programs before you launch.
  3. Try hiding body systems, structures and objects that you don’t need to view -- performance improves with fewer visible objects in the viewing area.

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Browser doesn't support WebGL

When I launch a Visible Body app via a web browser, I see the message, “You need a browser which supports WebGL to run this content.”

Try these troubleshooting steps

  1. Check that your browser supports WebGL. If not, please use one of these browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Safari (v8 or later)
  2. Visit get.webgl.org
    • If get.webgl.org indicates that WebGL is not currently working in your browser, please follow the support links. For most browsers there will be details on updating your graphics card driver
  3. If you are using Firefox, check the Configuration Editor
    • Type about:config into your address bar
    • Search for gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext
    • If the value of gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext is not 2, then set the value to 2
    • Restart your browser

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Out of Memory

I receive an out-of-memory error when I launch the WebGL version. What can I do? 

Visible Body apps are resource-intensive. Try these steps for improving memory usage on your computer

Try these troubleshooting steps

  1. Confirm your computer meets the minimum system requirements
  2. Try closing other running applications
  3. Try restarting your web browser, then loading Visible Body
  4. Lastly, try restarting your computer, then loading Visible Body

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Inability to play on Safari

If you are trying to play animations in a Visible Body web based app and are using Safari, you need to set the browser to allow auto-play animations.

Try these troubleshooting steps

  1. ​Open app in Safari
  2. Open Preferences
  3. Select Websites
  4. Select Auto-Play
  5. For the website you are using, change the dropdown from "Stop media with sound" to "Allow All Auto-Play"

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