Image Occlusion Cards in RemNote

No matter what you are studying, Image Occlusion can be an excellent way to test yourself on crucial information. With it, you can quickly create flashcards and start studying important information within its visual context.

Image Occlusion is the process of hiding sections of an image to test yourself on them later. Images can have several occlusions, allowing you to create multiple flashcards from each picture.

Image occlusion cards are easy to make, offering a quick way to generate lots of flashcards. Additionally, studying information within its context (the visual) helps retention and comprehension.

Perfect for difficult subjects like anatomy or chemistry, Image Occlusion cards can nevertheless be used effectively to study anything from vocabulary in foreign languages to graphs in economics.

So let us look at how to create these cards, before covering a few extra examples of how to use them.

Before you can start making Image Occlusion cards, you will need to upload an image.

There are three methods for uploading an image into RemNote. Even if you never use Image Occlusion, including images in your notes can be a powerful tool for learning.

If the image is on your computer, or even online, you can just click and drag it into RemNote. Note you have to drag it onto an existing bullet point, even if it is empty.

Whether on your computer or the web, copy Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on Mac) and paste Ctrl+V (Cmd+V) will also work.

If you have the Image’s URL you can type Ctrl+G (Cmd+G on Mac) to open an input box. If you copy into that the image’s URL then it should appear and you can add it to your notes.

Typing the command /ii will also take you directly to the same input box. Which is labeled as image in the / command options.

Lastly you can add an Image directly as an Image Occlusion Card with the command /ioc (you can find it by typing / then Image Occlusion Card too.

Once your image is uploaded, you can resize it to fit your notes better, or more easily make Image Occlusion cards. To do so, select the edge of the image and click and drag it to change the size.

Don’t have an image of what you want? Is what you want to study not an image? Turn it into one with the snipping tool of your computer.

With this, you can turn tables, sections of text, mathematical equations, chemistry equations, and more into images, and thus into Image Occlusion cards. We will talk more about some use cases for this later.

Once you have an image uploaded, you can start using the Image Occlusion feature.

To start creating Image Occlusion cards, click on the image options (⋯) in the top right corner of the image and select Generate Image Occlusion Cards. Alternatively, you can just hold Ctrl/Cmd and then click on the image.

This will open the image in a small window where you can start hiding sections. To do so click and drag to cover the section you want to test yourself on. This will create a small blued-out section with a letter on it to help identify it.

You can cover one word, a phrase, a part of the image, or even several all at once. Hit save to return to your notes. Each section you occluded is now a single separate card, though it is possible to merge them.

If a single image has more than one Image Occlusion you can merge them, either combining several, or all of them.

To merge with one or more individual cards, select one of the sections then hold Shift and click on another. You will have to confirm the merger in the options at the bottom of the image.

If you are not happy with a merger, select the section you want to split off and click split at the bottom to make it its own card once again.

Now that you have one or more Image Occlusion cards you can start testing yourself with them.

If you want to see what the Image Occlusion Cards you created will look like, you can use the Preview Cards feature. Select your image, go into Image Occlusion mode (Ctrl/Cmd + Click) then select Preview Cards at the bottom.

This will open the Preview feature, showing each card (you can scroll left and right to see them) as they will appear when you test yourself.

To test yourself, open up the Flashcards and you will find your Image Occlusion cards mixed in with all the others. Alternatively, you can study them specifically by selecting whatever section or Rem you made them in.

You might notice that when you are testing yourself on each card, you can see the other sections. This might be detrimental to your studying if they give spoilers for the answer you are trying to test yourself on or make it too easy.

If you want to obscure all sections you have occluded on an image when you test yourself on it, you will need to active the Hide All Test One feature.

Return to the Preview Cards menu, and select the small box that says Hide All Test One. Now when you test yourself on these cards, the other sections will be hidden from view.

Now you know how to use Image Occlusion to quickly make lots of effective flashcards.

This feature is not just for Medical Students studying anatomy however. Below you will find some ideas for how to work this feature into your studies.

Almost anything can be turned into an image (don’t forget you can use Snip!) and any image can generate as many flashcards as you need. This makes them a flexible resource for studying across many different subjects.

Here are some ideas for other types of images or content that make strong Image Occlusion Cards.

Many subjects are heavy with charts, graphs, models, diagrams, flow charts, and so forth. They are often already images (or can easily be made into them) and all make excellent Image Occlusion material.

Don’t have the right one already? Consider making your own, handwritten or on the computer, then uploading an image of it to RemNote to add it to your studying materials.

Students are fond of making tables while studying, and many subjects use them frequently to compare, contrast or list important information. These make Ideal Image Occlusion flashcard material, as you can test yourself on specific components or entire sections.

Tables are not often formatted as images, so it might be worth snipping to turn them into images. Consider also using the merge feature to test yourself on entire columns or rows at once. Bonus Tip: you can upload the image more than once if you want to create one set of cards for the rows, and another for the columns, etc.

Subjects like Chemistry, Physics, or anything involving Math, are often dense in important equations. Image Occlusion can be an easy way to test yourself on balancing oxidation reactions, memorizing physics theorems or math proofs without having to worry about writing them out (though once you get the hand of using Latex to do so it is not so difficult).

Just snip the equation you need, upload it as an image, and start occluding!