Click/touch this help panel to close it.
Welcome to the mindat.org media viewer. Here is a quick guide to some of the options available to you. Different controls are available depending on the type of media being shown (photo, video, animation, 3d image)
Controls - all media types
Zoom in and out of media using your mousewheel or with a two-finger 'resize' action on a touch device.
Use the mouse or your finger to drag the image or the view area of the image around the screen.
< and > at the left and right hand side of the screen move forwards and backwards for the other images associated with the media you selected. Usually this is used for previous/next photo in a gallery, in an article or in search results. Keyboard shortcuts: use shift + the left and right arrow keys.
< and > in the bottom center are used for switching between the photos of the same specimen. Keyboard shortcuts: use the left and right arrow keys.
> in the bottom center, raises the information box giving details and further options for the media, < at the top of this box then hides it. Keyboard shortcuts: use the up and down arrow keys.
? opens this help window. Keyboard shortcuts: use the H key or the ? key.
Other keyboard shortcuts:
1 | Fit image to screen |
2 | Fill screen with image |
5 | Display at full resolution |
< | Make background darker |
> | Make background lighter |
space | Hide/dim titles and buttons |
Scalebar
If the field of view (FOV) is specified for the photo, the scalebar appears in the left bottom corner of the viewer. The scalebar is draggable and resizeable. Drag the right edge to resize it. Double click will reset the scalebar to it's default size and position. If the scalebar is in default position, double click will make it circular.
Controls - Video
Video files have a standard set of video controls: - Reset to start, - Skip back, - Play, - Pause, - Skip forwards. Keyboard shortcuts: You can stop/start video play with the P key.
Controls - Animation (Spin Rotation)
Animation (usually 360 degree spin rotations) have their own controls: - enable spin mode. Note that while images are loading this option will not be available but will be automatically activated when the animation has loaded. Once active you can spin the image/change the animation by moving your mouse or finger on the image left/right or by pressing the [ or ] keys.
The button switches to move mode so that you can use your mouse/fingers to move the image around the screen as with other media types.
The button, or the P key will start playing the animation directly, you can interrupt this by using the mouse or finger on the image to regain manual movement control.
Controls - 3D Stereoscopic images
If a stereoscopic 3D image is opened in the viewer, the 3D button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "3D settings" menu.
The 3D images can be viewed in several ways:
- without any special equipment using cross-eyed or parallel-eyed method
- with stereoscope
- with anaglyph glasses.
- on a suitable 3D TV or monitor (passive 3D system)
For details about 3D refer to: Mindat manuals: Mindat Media Viewer: 3D
To enable/disable 3D stereo display of a compatible stereo pair image press the 3 key. If the left/right images are reversed on your display (this often happens in full-screen mode) press the 4 key to reverse them.
Controls - photo comparison mode
If a photo with activated comparison mode is opened in the viewer, the button appears in the bottom right corner giving access to "Comparison mode settings" menu.
Several layouts are supported: slider and side by-side comparison with up to 6 photos shown synchronously on the screen. On each of the compared photos a view selector is placed, e.g.:  Longwave UV ▼. It shows the name of currently selected view and allows to select a view for each placeholder.
Summary of all keyboard shortcuts
1 | Fit image to screen |
2 | Fill screen with image |
3 | Switch to 3D display of stereo pair |
4 | Switch left/right images in 3D mode |
5 | Display at full resolution |
<, > | Make background darker/lighter |
H or ? | Show/hide this help page |
P | Play/Pause Video or Animation |
[, ] | Backwards/forwards one frame (Animation only) |
space | Hide/dim titles and buttons |
up arrow | Show information box |
down arrow | Hide information box |
left arrow | Previous child photo |
right arrow | Next child photo |
shift + left arrow | Previous image on the page |
shift + right arrow | Next image on the page |
Update Dec 2022: This is a new parent photo showing both the SW UV and visible light appearance of the specimen using the Mindat interactive comparison tool. (Only the SW image shows up in the TN. Click on the TN to see both images.) I made the previous (non-interactive) "vertical" comparison photo a child photo. The new parent has essentially the same text as that one. More info can be found under under an even older (visible light only) parent photo (now also a child photo).
Here I wish to concentrate on the UV image, which was made using one of the new 255 nm SW UV LED “flashlights”. The first thing that needs to be said is that my eyes and my camera have very different opinions on what that image should look like. I’m sure that it’s not the camera’s fault – it’s just doing what I’m telling it to do. But the resulting image is always too blue – no matter which built in white balance setting I use. Not only that, but the response of the fluorophlogopite looks like it is coming from 24 carat wollastonite. But it’s not the fault of the UV flashlight either. What I’m seeing with the naked eye is neither so blue nor so “golden” as my camera is telling me. What’s the problem? I don’t know. Maybe it has to do with “What’s the color temperature of a spectral line at 255 nm ??” Or maybe it's due to reflected UV, which the camera, but not the eye registers as blue - not a comforting thought. A UV photo “know-be” I am not. (I do use a skylight filter on the camera for that reason - but that won't protect my eyes ...)
To get the image shown (which was made using stacking), I had to not only use a Photoshop digital warming filter (at 80%), but also to tone down the phlogopite (which still isn’t quite right – it should be more yellow). Furthermore, the purplish-magenta areas are thin layers of adhering calcite, which don’t look nearly as bright with the naked eye. Despite these caveats, I think that the image is a reasonable representation of what one sees in real time. Even though the exposure time was 10 sec (at ISO 800 and f8), the naked eye response is easily visible – even in a semi-darkened room (i.e. with lights off and not right next to a window).
This photo has been shown 33 times