MUSCLE BODY DIAGRAM

VERSION 2.1 | UPDATED JANUARY 2026

Comprehensive documentation for implementing and customizing interactive human anatomy diagrams

◈ View Live Demo ✦ CSS Styling Demo

Overview

The Interactive Muscle Body Diagram is a modern, responsive collection of SVG-based anatomical diagrams featuring interactive muscle groups. This package includes four high-quality scalable vector graphics representing male and female anatomy from both front and back perspectives.

Built with modern web standards, this solution provides an engaging way to display human muscular anatomy with hover effects, bilateral highlighting, tooltips, and smooth animations. Perfect for fitness applications, medical education platforms, anatomy learning tools, and health-related websites.

Features

◈ Interactive Highlighting

Hover over any muscle to see it highlighted with smooth transitions and visual feedback.

↻ Bilateral Synchronization

Automatically highlights both left and right sides of paired muscles for better anatomical understanding.

◇ Fully Responsive

Adapts seamlessly to any screen size from mobile phones to large desktop displays.

✦ Customizable Colors

Easy to customize color schemes, hover effects, and visual styles through CSS.

⚡ Smooth Animations

Beautiful flip animations when switching between views and genders with GPU-accelerated transitions.

⌨ Keyboard Navigation

Built-in keyboard shortcuts for accessibility and power users.

◉ Scalable SVG

Crystal-clear graphics at any resolution with infinite scalability.

▣ Tooltips

Optional tooltips display muscle names and information on hover.

✧ Dark Theme UI

Modern cyberpunk aesthetic with gradient accents, glow effects, and monospace typography.

⬡ CSS Theming

Semantic muscle IDs enable external CSS styling with six pre-built color themes included.

File Structure

The package includes the following files and directories:

muscle-body-diagram/
├── source/                       # Product files for purchase
│   ├── with_tooltip_and_colours/  # Full-featured SVGs
│   │   ├── man-front.svg
│   │   ├── man-back.svg
│   │   ├── woman-front.svg
│   │   └── woman-back.svg
│   └── no_tooltip/               # CSS-stylable SVGs
│       ├── man-front.svg
│       ├── man-back.svg
│       ├── woman-front.svg
│       └── woman-back.svg
├── assets/
│   └── js/
│       └── diagrams.js           # Protected SVG delivery
├── documentation/
│   └── index.html                # This documentation
├── index.html                    # Interactive demo
├── styling-demo.html             # CSS styling demonstration
└── README.md                     # Quick reference guide

SVG Folder Differences

Folder Features Best For
with_tooltip_and_colours/ Built-in tooltips, gradient fills, hover effects Quick integration using <object> tag
no_tooltip/ Semantic muscle IDs, no inline fills, minimal CSS Custom CSS styling when SVG is inlined

SVG Files

  • man-front.svg - Male figure facing forward with detailed muscle groups
  • man-back.svg - Male figure from behind showing posterior muscles
  • woman-front.svg - Female figure facing forward with anatomical accuracy
  • woman-back.svg - Female figure from behind with muscle detail

Each SVG file contains:

  • Individually selectable muscle groups with unique IDs
  • Pre-styled CSS classes for hover effects
  • Title elements for tooltips and accessibility
  • Bilateral muscle pairing for synchronized highlighting
  • Color-coded muscle groups by region

Quick Start

Get up and running in under 5 minutes:

1. Basic HTML Implementation

The simplest way to display a diagram:

HTML 
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Muscle Diagram</title>
</head>
<body>
    <object data="source/man-front.svg" type="image/svg+xml">
        Your browser does not support SVG
    </object>
</body>
</html>

2. Using the Demo Template

For a complete implementation with all features, open index.html in your browser. This includes:

  • Gender selection (Male/Female)
  • View rotation (Front/Back)
  • Smooth flip animations
  • Responsive layout
  • Keyboard shortcuts
◈ Pro Tip Use index.html as a starting template and customize it to your needs. It's production-ready and includes all best practices. Works locally without needing a web server!

Installation & Integration

Method 1: Direct SVG Embedding (Recommended)

For maximum interactivity and styling control, embed SVG using the <object> tag:

HTML 
<object 
    data="source/man-front.svg" 
    type="image/svg+xml"
    width="400"
    height="600">
    <!-- Fallback content -->
    Your browser doesn't support SVG
</object>

Method 2: Image Tag (Simple)

For basic display without interactivity:

HTML 
<img src="source/man-front.svg" alt="Human muscle anatomy" width="400">
⚠ Note Using <img> tag limits interactivity. For full hover effects and JavaScript control, use <object> or inline SVG.

Method 3: Inline SVG (Advanced)

For complete JavaScript and CSS control, you can inline the SVG directly. See the CSS Styling Demo for examples:

JavaScript 
fetch('source/man-front.svg')
    .then(response => response.text())
    .then(svg => {
        document.getElementById('diagram-container').innerHTML = svg;
    });

Customization Guide

CSS Styling Demo

The CSS Styling Demo showcases how to apply custom themes to muscle diagrams using external CSS. It includes six pre-built themes:

  • Anatomy - Realistic muscle colors
  • Neon Glow - Vibrant cyberpunk palette
  • Ocean - Cool blue gradients
  • Sunset - Warm orange/red tones
  • Monochrome - Grayscale values
  • Forest - Natural green palette

Changing Colors with External CSS

When SVG is inlined (not via <object>), you can style muscles using external CSS. The source/no_tooltip/ folder contains SVGs optimized for CSS styling with semantic muscle IDs:

CSS 
/* Target specific muscle groups by ID */
#pectoralis_major path {
    fill: #ff006e;
}

#deltoid path {
    fill: #8338ec;
}

#biceps path {
    fill: #3a86ff;
}

#quadriceps path {
    fill: #00bbf9;
}

/* Hover effects */
.muscle:hover {
    filter: brightness(1.3);
}

Adding Custom Tooltips

Access the SVG DOM and add custom tooltip functionality:

JavaScript 
const svgObject = document.querySelector('object');

svgObject.addEventListener('load', () => {
    const svgDoc = svgObject.contentDocument;
    const muscles = svgDoc.querySelectorAll('.muscle');
    
    muscles.forEach(muscle => {
        muscle.addEventListener('mouseenter', (e) => {
            const name = e.target.getAttribute('data-muscle');
            showTooltip(name, e.pageX, e.pageY);
        });
    });
});

Implementing Click Events

Make muscles clickable to show detailed information:

JavaScript 
const svgDoc = svgObject.contentDocument;

const muscles = svgDoc.querySelectorAll('.muscle');
muscles.forEach(muscle => {
    muscle.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
        const muscleId = e.target.id;
        const muscleName = e.target.querySelector('title').textContent;
        
        // Show detailed info
        showMuscleDetails(muscleId, muscleName);
    });
});

Responsive Sizing

Make the diagrams responsive to container size:

CSS 
.diagram-container {
    width: 100%;
    max-width: 600px;
    margin: 0 auto;
}

.diagram-container object {
    width: 100%;
    height: auto;
    max-height: 650px;
}

@media (max-width: 768px) {
    .diagram-container object {
        max-height: 520px;
    }
}

API Reference

State Management

The demo implementation uses simple state variables:

Variable Type Values Description
currentGender String 'man', 'woman' Currently displayed gender
currentView String 'front', 'back' Currently displayed view angle

Functions

updateDisplay(animate)

Updates the displayed diagram based on current state.

  • Parameters: animate (boolean) - Whether to use flip animation
  • Returns: void
  • Example: updateDisplay(true)

Event Listeners

JavaScript 
// Gender change
genderRadios.forEach(radio => {
    radio.addEventListener('change', (e) => {
        currentGender = e.target.value;
        updateDisplay(false);
    });
});

// Rotate view
rotateBtn.addEventListener('click', () => {
    currentView = currentView === 'front' ? 'back' : 'front';
    updateDisplay(true);
});

SVG Structure

Muscle Group Naming Convention

Each muscle follows a consistent naming pattern:

  • Single muscles: id="muscle_name" (e.g., id="trapezius")
  • Groups: Wrapped in <g> tags with class muscle
  • CSS Target: Use #muscle_name path to target the fill

Front View Muscle IDs

Muscle ID CSS Selector
Pectoralis Major pectoralis_major #pectoralis_major path
Deltoid deltoid #deltoid path
Biceps biceps #biceps path
Abdominals abdominals #abdominals path
External Oblique external_oblique #external_oblique path
Quadriceps quadriceps #quadriceps path
Sartorius & Abductors sartorius_abductors #sartorius_abductors path
Tibialis Anterior tibialis_anterior #tibialis_anterior path
Gastrocnemius gastrocnemius #gastrocnemius path
Sternocleidomastoid sternocleidomastoid #sternocleidomastoid path

Back View Muscle IDs

Muscle ID CSS Selector
Trapezius trapezius #trapezius path
Deltoid deltoid #deltoid path
Triceps triceps #triceps path
Latissimus Dorsi latissimus_dorsi #latissimus_dorsi path
Infraspinatus & Teres Major infraspinatus_teres_major #infraspinatus_teres_major path
Gluteus Medius gluteus_medius #gluteus_medius path
Gluteus Maximus gluteus_maximus #gluteus_maximus path
Hamstrings hamstrings #hamstrings path
Gastrocnemius gastrocnemius #gastrocnemius path
Brachioradialis brachioradialis #brachioradialis path
◈ Styling All Muscles To apply a base style to all muscles at once, use the .muscle class selector: .muscle path { fill: #yourcolor; }

Keyboard Shortcuts

The demo includes these keyboard shortcuts for enhanced accessibility:

Key Action Description
R Rotate View Switch between front and back view
M Male Show male anatomy
F Female Show female anatomy

Implementation

JavaScript 
document.addEventListener('keydown', (e) => {
    if (e.key === 'r' || e.key === 'R') {
        rotateBtn.click();
    } else if (e.key === 'm' || e.key === 'M') {
        document.querySelector('input[value="man"]').click();
    } else if (e.key === 'f' || e.key === 'F') {
        document.querySelector('input[value="woman"]').click();
    }
});

Browser Support

This package is compatible with all modern browsers:

Browser Minimum Version Notes
Chrome 90+ Full support
Firefox 88+ Full support
Safari 14+ Full support
Edge 90+ Full support
Opera 76+ Full support
iOS Safari 14+ Full support (touch enabled)
Chrome Android 90+ Full support (touch enabled)

Required Features

  • SVG 2.0 support
  • CSS3 animations and transitions
  • ES6 JavaScript (can be transpiled for older browsers)
  • CSS Grid and Flexbox
◈ Progressive Enhancement The diagrams degrade gracefully in older browsers, showing static SVGs without interactive features.

Troubleshooting

SVG Not Displaying

Problem: SVG doesn't show up on the page.

Solutions:

  • Check the file path is correct relative to your HTML file
  • Ensure your server is configured to serve SVG files (MIME type: image/svg+xml)
  • Verify the SVG files aren't corrupted by opening them directly in a browser
  • Check browser console for CORS errors if loading from different domain

Hover Effects Not Working

Problem: Muscles don't highlight on hover.

Solutions:

  • Use <object> tag instead of <img> for interactivity
  • Ensure CSS is properly loaded within the SVG file
  • Check that JavaScript isn't blocking the SVG loading
  • Verify no CSS from your page is overriding SVG styles

CSS Styling Not Working

Problem: External CSS doesn't apply to SVG elements.

Solutions:

  • SVGs loaded via <object> or <img> cannot be styled with external CSS
  • Inline the SVG using fetch() for CSS styling - see CSS Styling Demo
  • Use the SVGs from source/no_tooltip/ which are optimized for CSS styling
  • Run a local web server to avoid CORS errors when fetching SVGs

Animation Performance Issues

Problem: Animations are choppy or slow.

Solutions:

  • Enable hardware acceleration in CSS: transform: translateZ(0)
  • Reduce the number of simultaneous animations
  • Use will-change property for animated elements
  • Consider reducing SVG complexity for lower-end devices

Mobile Touch Issues

Problem: Hover effects don't work on touch devices.

Solutions:

  • Add click/touch event listeners in addition to hover
  • Implement a tap-to-highlight functionality
  • Use @media (hover: hover) to apply hover-only styles
CSS 
/* Apply hover effects only on devices that support hover */
@media (hover: hover) {
    .muscle:hover {
        fill: #ff5252;
    }
}

/* Alternative active state for touch devices */
@media (hover: none) {
    .muscle:active {
        fill: #ff5252;
    }
}

CORS Errors

Problem: Cannot access SVG content from JavaScript or fetch fails.

Solutions:

  • Serve files from the same origin as your HTML page
  • Configure proper CORS headers on your server
  • Use a local development server instead of opening files directly (file://)
  • Run: python3 -m http.server 8080 in your project folder

Credits & License

Created By

Mauricio Ferreira
Visian Systems
Email: contact@visiansystems.com

Version History

  • v2.1 (January 2026) - New dark cyberpunk UI theme, CSS Styling Demo, semantic muscle IDs for external CSS styling, optimized no-tooltip SVGs
  • v2.0 (November 2025) - Complete redesign with modern features, improved animations, keyboard shortcuts, and enhanced responsiveness
  • v1.0 (September 2022) - Initial release with basic interactive SVG diagrams

Technologies Used

  • SVG 2.0 for vector graphics
  • HTML5 and CSS3
  • Vanilla JavaScript (ES6+)
  • CSS Grid and Flexbox
  • CSS Animations and Transitions

Support

For questions, bug reports, or feature requests, please contact us via email. We're committed to providing excellent support and continuously improving this product.

◈ Need Help? If you have questions beyond this documentation, feel free to reach out. We're here to help you create amazing anatomical visualizations!

Interactive Muscle Body Diagram

© 2026 Visian Systems | All Rights Reserved

Version 2.1 | Updated January 2026

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