Despite the introduction of DNA-analysis for identification of human remains (1997-2000) several cases exist where the deceased remain unidentified. Approximately ten percent of unknown deceased persons can not be identified by dental status or other present methods. During the year 2003 alone, seven individuals, in Sweden, remain unidentified.
Increase in travel in Europe will lead to more discoveries of foreign human remains in Sweden. In these cases, dental and medical records are often unavailable for the identification process. When reconstructing a face from a skull, a technique with so called landmarks is used. These landmarks define the distance between the skull and the skin.
Today the reconstruction is performed by a forensic artist applying modelling clay to a cast of the skull according to the placement of the landmarks. This method is considered unethical since it involves manipulation of the skull. Another drawback with this method is that it is very time consuming and changes and modifications of the model are hard to do.
This thesis presents the possibilities of digitally, in 3D, reconstructing deceased persons’ faces based on computed tomography of skulls. This is done by presenting our PC based 3D modelling tool that we have implemented in Discreet 3ds max. By developing and testing our software we have shown that digital 3D facial reconstruction can be performed by acquiring data from CT and performing the reconstruction process in 3ds max with help from our software.
Source: Linköping University
Author: Valfridsson, Martin | Andersson, Björn