Freiburg Vision Test (‘FrACT’)
by Prof. Michael Bach – Downloads
by Prof. Michael Bach – Downloads
This is free software. There is no warranty for anything.
The FrACT₁₀ stand-alone app is currently only available for MacOS (I don’t have a Windows machine for testing): FrACT₁₀.app.zip for MacOS (120 MB). For other platforms, consider the latest on-line “frozen version”: | 2021-07 | 2021-08 | 2021-09 | 2021-11 | 2021-12 | 2022-01 |.
The app is unsigned, so after un-zipping do a right-click to open and allow open (→explanation for this behaviour). The very first start needs not only these extra clicks but is also very slow (OS check for malware ≈½ minute); from then on it behaves normally.
Very occcasionally there have been download problems. If so, don’t hesitate to contact me, we’ve always found a work-around. If the downloaded version does not work, it might be a security setting, easy to circumvent if you persist.
All options and default settings are described in this file: Manual [PDF]. I am happy to help in any way, but please be so kind to read the checklist and to peruse the manual before sending me questions.
[The manual is occasionally out of step with the very latest FrACT release…]
“Face files” as used in McCulloch DL, Loffler G, Bruce N, Dutton G, Bach M (2011) The effects of visual degradation on face discrimination. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 31:240–248.
Usage: Download “FaceFiles2011.zip”, decompress, store folder at any convenient location. Tick “allow experimental Face acuity” in Settings. Press “Faces” on the main screen. Navigate to the faces folder, select ALL and load all of them at once. Then the Faces test proceeds; the task is to select the odd-one-out from the four faces, actually quite difficult.
Sufficient distance from the screen is necessary to avoid distortion, just as for normal acuity assessment. Thus if you are testing subjects with normal vision, ≥2 m (for typical screenw resolutions) is fine. If you are testing subjects with low vision, reduce the screen distance proportionally to avoid limitations by total screen size.
Needs FrACT version 3.7+.
This could be a “trojan”, like any program, yes, but it is not to the very best of my knowledge.
For the downloaded stand-alone version of FrACT, you do not need to have any Flash plugin or player installed. It is self-contained.
As to viruses: Macintosh users need not be very concerned, there are still (nearly) none for that platform. For Windows, I can state that I personally compiled this progam (using Flash CS4 on a Mac) with no malicious code and placed it on this site myself.
To store the settings, FrACT uses Flash’s “Local Shared Objects”, putting a file containing settings and temporary run results on your computer. Visit the Adobe Flash online settings manager to restrict how Flash stores these files; you can completely disallow such files to be saved, but then your settings won’t stick.
If you were using FrACT, please cite it when publishing.
FrACT is free, so I’m not paying developer fees (99$ per year on the Mac platform). Consequently, I can’t “sign” the FrACT application, and it will be considered as an “application from an unidentified developer” by the “Gatekeeper” on a Mac or as “publisher unknown” on Windows. More in Apple’s help article →Open an app from an unidentified developer.
These security warnings are getting worse every year (but are understandable). Now the operation system claims the file is “damaged”, which it isn’t (just not signed); it even suggests to trash the file! But it is still easy to open the app with the means described below and staying persistent through the dialogs.
Windows: “Open” anyway, and consider unticking the checkbox on the bottom left “Always ask before opening this file”.
Mac OS: Do a context-click (right-click or ctrl-click) on the file and select open.
If anyone has ideas how to make this easier on any platform, I would warmly welcome all advice.