Image Occlusion Flashcard Maker

What image occlusion is for

Some things are easier to learn by position than by words: bones and muscles, parts of a cell, countries on a map, components on a circuit board, regions of the brain. Image occlusion hides one label at a time so you have to recall it from where it sits in the picture.

It's also faster than the alternative. Without occlusion you'd need to crop a separate image for every label, or describe the location in words. With occlusion, one diagram with twenty labels becomes twenty cards in a few minutes.

How to make image occlusion cards

• 1. Add an image. Paste a screenshot, drag in a file, or choose one from your device.
• 2. Draw boxes over each label or region you want to be tested on. Resize and move them as needed.
• 3. Save. You get one card per box.

On each card, one box is hidden; you recall what's underneath, then reveal it.

Boxes are saved with the image, so you can come back later to add more, move a box that covers too much, or delete one you no longer need. Each box you add creates one more card in the deck.

Tips for good boxes

• Cover the whole label, including leader lines if they give the answer away.
• Make one box per thing you want to recall. Grouping three labels in one box makes a card that's hard to grade honestly.
• Crop the image to the part you're studying; huge images with tiny labels are hard to read on a phone.
• Use a clean diagram where possible. If the labels are printed on the image, the boxes simply hide them.

Where to get images

Screenshots from your lecture slides or textbook PDF are the usual source. If you only have a paper diagram, take a clear photo from straight above. Open-licensed diagrams (for example from Wikimedia Commons) are another option; check the licence if you plan to share the deck.

Images are stored in your browser along with the deck. Nothing is uploaded.

Study, print, and back up

Image occlusion cards work in spaced repetition review, and they can be printed: each box becomes one paper card, with the box covered on the front and outlined on the back. That makes good paper drills for anatomy or geography. To move occlusion cards to another device, use a full backup file; share links and Anki exports carry text cards only.

Subjects where it works well

• Anatomy and physiology: bones, muscles, organs, heart chambers, cranial nerves.
• Geography: countries, capitals, rivers, mountain ranges on a blank or labelled map.
• Biology: parts of a cell, flower structure, the stages of mitosis.
• Engineering and electronics: components on a schematic, parts of an engine.
• Art and architecture: features of a building façade, elements of a painting.
• Languages: vocabulary from a labelled picture of a kitchen or a street scene.

In each case the position of the thing is part of what you need to know. If position doesn't matter, a normal card with an image on the front is usually simpler. You can mix both in the same deck, alongside text cards and cloze cards.