Virtual ‘clay’ modeling system - further information available at http://www.sensable.com
Published in Chapter:
Virtual Forensic Anthropology Applications of Advanced Computer Graphics Technology to the Identification of Human Remains
Stephanie L. Davy-Jow (Liverpool John Moores University, UK), Summer J. Decker (University of South Florida, USA), and Damian Schofield (State University of New York at Oswego, USA)
Copyright: © 2012
|Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-762-3.ch011
Abstract
Anthropology is the “study of man” and encompasses a diverse range of topics, including socio-cultural studies, linguistics, archaeology, and physical anthropology. Physical anthropology, or “biological” anthropology, the study of humans both living and deceased, can be further subcategorized into osteology, primatology, human evolution, and forensic anthropology. Forensic anthropology is the application of physical anthropology techniques to medico-legal settings. Virtual Reality (VR) is being applied to forensic anthropology in a multitude of ways to benefit research and teaching. Several large-scale projects have been launched to digitize, reconstruct, and disseminate specimens (for example, http://www.virtual-anthropology.com). This chapter will begin with an overview of the discipline of forensic anthropology and discuss a number of representative applications of VR technology in this field that are changing the way in which case work may be handled in the future.