Author: wp_help_lucidcentral

Lucid Player Choosing States from multistate Features

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

In Lucid, all states in Features Available are provided with checkboxes. Choose a state by clicking on its checkbox. Entities that match the chosen state will remain in Entities Remaining; entities that do not match will be moved to Entities Discarded. The chosen state will also be displayed within the Features Chosen list.

Tip

In Lucid keys, you may choose more than one state for any given feature (unless the key author has used a single selection feature type). For instance, if a key has a feature Flower colour with states white, cream, yellow, red, and blue, you may be unsure whether to choose the states white or cream for your specimen. In this case, choose both states. In normal identification mode, Entities Remaining will list all entities with white or cream flowers.

Lucid Player Flower Color Feature example.

Also see Un-choosing and changing chosen States and Choosing Numeric Features.

Lucid Player v4

Lucid Player Finding Features, States and Entities

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

To search for a Feature or State, activate one of the Features panels (Features Available or Features Chosen (if visible)) by clicking within it or its header bar, then choose the search option on the toolbar.

To search for an entity, activate one of the Entities panels by clicking within it or its header bar, then choose the search option . on the toolbar.

Within the Search dialog, type the text to search for in the Find text box. Click the Find button to initiate the search. If Case sensitive option is checked, the search will be case-sensitive (that is, an item called Item will not be found if the search text is item). If the Whole word option is checked, the search will match only whole items (that is, an item called Item One will not be found if the search text is Item or One).

The Find function can also be invoked using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F or the Find… button on the main toolbar.

Tip

The browser also has a find text within the current web page option. Using this option will find text displayed on the page, however it won't find text within a closed feature or entity nodes as this data has not yet been loaded, where as the search option provided by the Lucid Player will.

Tags Entities, Features, Finding, States

Lucid Player v4

Lucid Player Expanding and Collapsing Tree Items

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

In Lucid keys, Features and Entities can be arranged in hierarchical trees. Where this is the case, nodes of the tree are opened and closed using buttons to the left of each node:

Alternatively, the Collapse All and Open All buttons on the toolbar will collapse or open all child nodes at that level.

Note

At start-up both the Features Remaining and Entity Remaining trees will be collapsed to its root branches.

Lucid Player v4

Lucid Player About Entities and Features

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

Entities in Lucid are the things the key aims to identify. Depending on the scope of the key, the entities may be different kinds of things. For example, in a key to the palms of Brazil, the entities will be species of palms, in a key to the families of flies of the world the entities will be fly families, in a key to minerals the entities will be types of minerals, in a key to disorders of sweet potatoes the entities will be the causes of disorders found in sweet potatoes. In Lucid we use the term entity because it applies to all the possible things that a key may be designed to help identify. Lucid itself doesn’t know whether the entities are species of plants, families of flies, minerals or diseases – they are all simply entities to Lucid, and are all handled in the same way.

Features in Lucid are characteristics of the entities in the key that can be used to describe each entity.

Lucid Player - Simple feature example — Lucid Player – Simple feature example.

For example, in a key to minerals one feature may be the types of crystalline form shown by the mineral. Amongst the minerals in the key, there will be a number of different crystal forms – cubic, tetragonal etc. The different possibilities for crystal form are called states of the feature. States of a feature are indicated in the Lucid Player by scoring boxes preceding the state names.

In Lucid there are three main types of features.

Lucid Three Types of Features — Lucid – Three Types of Features.

Multi-state features, like those shown for the crystal form of minerals, have two or more alternative states.

Numeric features, by contrast, are ones in which real numbers (integer or decimal) are used to describe the entities. Numeric features are normally used for lengths, widths, ratios and counts. For example, a key to butterflies may use a numeric feature for the length of the forewing, or for the number of segments in the antennae.

Grouping features are features that contain other features.

Tags Entities, Features

Lucid Player v4

Lucid Player Opening a Key

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

Opening a key is just a matter of opening a HTML page in your favourite web browser. No additional software or installation is required. The web page will contain all the information required to load the Lucid Player and the key data. The key author may also have provided a setting page with the key that allows you to select various options for the key and the Player interface.

A Lucid key can be opened, depending on where it’s deployed, from a website, USB, CD/DVD Network Drive or Hard Drive. Again no matter the location of the key only your web browser is required – no installation of any kind is required.

Tags Open

Lucid Player v4

Using the Lucid Player

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

Lucid Player example key within the main interface.

The four main panels displays of features and entities:

Features Available shows the features and states in the key. An identification is performed by clicking on (and so ticking) score boxes next to those states that match the specimen being identified.

In some keys, features and their states will be illustrated by images displayed next to the feature or state name. See the topic Multimedia in the Lucid Player for more information.

Features Chosen shows the features and states that have been used to describe the specimen being identified.

When an identification is started this window will be empty; as features are progressively selected in Features Available, they are copied to Features Chosen for handy reference.

To unchoose a previously chosen state, click on (and so un-tick) its score box in Features Chosen.

Entities Remaining shows all entities that match the chosen features and states.

In some keys, entities will be illustrated by images and web pages displayed next to the entity name. In addition, a tab at the bottom of the Entities panels provides access to a gallery of images for all remaining entities. See the topic Multimedia in the Lucid Player for more information.

Entities Discarded shows all entities that do not match the chosen features and states.

The button bar and menu contains many options to help make an identification easier. See the topic The Lucid Player’s Menu and Button Bar for links to help on these.

Lucid Player v4

Lucid Player System Requirements

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

Just a web browser

Any modern JavaScript enabled web browser is all that is required to run the Lucid JavaScript Player.

Note: Internet Explorer is not considered a modern web browser and is not supported. Please upgrade to one of the above browsers.

Lucid Player v4

What does the Lucid Player do?

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

The Lucid Player is an effective and powerful identification and diagnostic tool. It is used to play interactive identification or diagnostic keys or guides created using the Lucid Builder.

Lucid keys are usually created by an expert for a particular group of organisms or things (such as fruit flies, frogs, wild flowers, corals, grasses, crop diseases, mouth ulcers or minerals). The key comprises a list of all the Entities (E.g. Species or other taxa, objects, diseases etc.) in the group, a list of the Features that may be used to identify them, and a matrix of scores of the Entities for the features.

When a key is deployed in the Lucid Player, it can be used to identify specimens that belong to the group covered. Specimens are described by selecting, from the list of all Features provided in the key, those Features that match the specimen. At each step, the Lucid Player sorts the list of Entities in the key into those that match the developing description and those that do not. As Features are progressively chosen, the list of matching entities will be progressively reduced until a single Entity (or perhaps a short list of entities) remains. The identification is complete.

Identifying the specimen – finding a name for it – is only the first step in finding out more about it. Links from the key’s entities provide access to fact sheets and other information provided by the key builder. A name is also the starting point for finding information on an organism beyond the key, using the Internet and other resources.

The Lucid Player provides other tools and information to help with the identification. For example, features in Lucid keys are usually provided with explanatory notes and images to help learn about them. Subsets of Features can help organise the list of features to make it easier to manage, and the Player’s Best function is a powerful tool to help decide which feature to address next.

View the topic Using the Lucid Player next, for an introduction to the look and feel of the Player.

Build your own key

If you think you may like to build your own Lucid key, see the topic What does the Lucid Builder do? Or visit https://www.lucidcentral.org, for more information.

Lucid Player v4

Lucid Player Welcome

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 11 August 2020

Welcome to the Lucid Player, one member of the Lucid family of products. For more information on other Lucid and related programs, please visit the Lucidcentral website at https://www.lucidcentral.org.

Written entirely in JavaScript, this latest edition of the Lucid Player is cross-platform, and will run within any modern web browser (Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera.), under any operating system (such as Windows, Macintosh, Unix, Linux, Sun Solaris etc).

Unlike the older Java Applet or Desktop editions of the Lucid Player, the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) is not required.

Lucid Builder v4

Lucid Builder Check Media

Post author By wp_help_lucidcentral
Post date 10 August 2020

The Builder Media Check function will parse either the Feature or Entity Tree media attachments and check on the corresponding files for their specified file system location. If any missing media items are reported on a per Feature or Entity basis depending on which check option is currently selected.

Lucid Builder Check Media dialog – Features check example.

Lucid Builder Media Check dialog - Entities missing media example — Lucid Builder Media Check dialog – Entities missing media example.

Tip

You can leave the Media Check dialog open while you review/fix the missing media list in the Builders main interface. You can also copy and paste the report text, if needed.

Tags Media