pnb@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Burgess) (02/26/89)
A fried of mine is a faculty member of a local college and is part of the archeology department. He is doing some planning for some future work which includes the concept of using computer graphics to predict the evolution of human forms found in the field, helping to predict (for example) how a skull would be transformed over millions of years, using various assumptions regarding how that evolution might take place. He is looking for hardware/software combinations that he could purchase, or have access to, that would have this capability. In one sense, this process seems similar to techniques that are used in police/criminology work to guess how young, kidnapped children would look like if they have not been seen for 5-10 years, except that his interest spans millions of years and the changing process is less well known. I am not sure that this is the right newsgroup to pose this question, but can any of you lead me to such a tool? Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks in advance. Paul Burgess ../att/ihlpl/pnb
shirriff@ernie.Berkeley.EDU (Ken Shirriff) (02/26/89)
In article <9259@ihlpl.ATT.COM> pnb@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Burgess) writes: >[...] He is doing some planning for some future >work which includes the concept of using computer graphics to predict >the evolution of human forms found in the field, helping to predict >(for example) how a skull would be transformed over millions of years, >using various assumptions regarding how that evolution might take >place. Look at "The Perception of Human Growth", Scientific American, February 1980, pages 132-144. This discusses methods of transforming skulls to simulate growth and evolution. They find a cardioidal strain transformation works best. Ken Shirriff shirriff@ernie.Berkeley.EDU
oliver@unc.cs.unc.edu (Bill Oliver) (03/01/89)
In article <9259@ihlpl.ATT.COM> pnb@ihlpl.ATT.COM (Burgess) writes: >A fried of mine is a faculty member of a local college and is part of >the archeology department. He is doing some planning for some future >work which includes the concept of using computer graphics to predict >the evolution of human forms found in the field, helping to predict >(for example) how a skull would be transformed over millions of years, >using various assumptions regarding how that evolution might take >place. > > > Paul Burgess > ../att/ihlpl/pnb I suggest he take a look at the book "Morphometrics in Evolutionary Biology: The Geometry of Size and Shape Change" by Fred Bookstein, Barry Chernoff, Ruth Elder, Julian Humphries, Gerald Smith, and Richard Strauss; Special Publication 15, The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1985. Also, "Morphogenesis and Pattern Formation", Connelly, Brinkley, and Carlson, eds. Raven Press, 1981. He might also just give Fred Bookstein a call at U Mich. FB is a pretty neat guy. Bill Oliver