Panel Statement
Panel: Serious Animation: Beyond Art and Entertainment
This presentation discusses how 3D haptic technology is used to depict faces of the dead. The paper describes 3D anatomical modelling and the utilisation of skeletal models from clinical imaging data and explains how this can be employed to aid recognition and identification in forensic investigations or authentication and depiction in archaeological research. The presentation will show depictions of Ancient Egyptians, Bog Bodies and famous historical figures, such as J.S. Bach and William Shakespeare.
- Caroline Wilkinson is currently Professor of Craniofacial Identification at the University of Dundee, Scotland. Her work includes craniofacial depiction from skeletal and partially decomposed human remains for use in forensic and archaeological investigations and she is author of Forensic Facial Reconstruction. Dr Wilkinson has also been involved in many archaeological investigations and her work is exhibited in museums around the world, including facial depictions of bog bodies (Moesgaard Museum, Denmark & National Museum of Ireland), Ancient Egyptians (The British Museum) and British Archaeology (Museum of London & National Museum of Scotland). She has appeared on television in popular archaeology programmes such as Meet the Ancestors (BBC2), Secrets of the Dead (Channel 4) and History Cold Case (BBC2). Her research group, Forensic & Medical Art, was formed through a collaboration between the Centre for Anatomy & Human Identification and the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in 2005. Her research includes the craniofacial depiction of unidentified bodies for forensic identification or the depiction of historical figures, Egyptian mummies, Bog bodies or people from the past for archaeological investigation. She is also involved in the study of craniofacial changes during transsexual treatment, the evaluation of Tsantas, medical avatars, disaster victim identification and the depiction of disease and trauma in museum exhibitions. Her research utilises 3D haptic technology, clinical images, stereolithography, 3D animation and 3D laser capture.