CompuServe Thread

Skin Question

9 messages in this thread
#183127From: david W. mennenohAug 1, 1995 10:25 PM
Peter, There is no skin modeler for 3DS that will work with dissimilar vertex counts but that doesn't mean there isn't one. I'm not sure as far as other packages go though. Maybe someone else will jump in and let you know. What are you trying to do anyway? It seems many of us have all but abandoned skin and slice for Bones Pro, although the former does still have its uses. If you leave some more info. maybe I or someone else will be able to help out more. DM
#183314From: PETER CASANOAug 2, 1995 10:34 PM
I'm tracing CT scans and lofting them. Tracing programs would help if I didn't have to end up with a specific vertex count at each level. Its easier for me now to use Corel to manually trace over the scans and then copy the tracing to the next level and adjust it to the next scan. I've modeled the human nasal sinuses this way, took me months and ended up with 100,000 vertexes. Its being used to train sinus surgeons (I'm one) using stereo renderings and models of instruments in conjunction with stereoscopic video tapes of operations and cadaveric dissections. Next is the middle and inner ear, its complicated and I'm hoping not to take 6 months to model it too. The voxel reconstructoin programs for CT scans are out there but you can't animate mucous flow, cilia motion or blood vessels on them. Thanks for any help, I hear Corel 6.0 may have some tools that will help, plus I hope to run it on my new Alpha. Maybe 3DS NT will have different tools.
#183329From: david W. mennenohAug 2, 1995 11:36 PM
Wow Peter, sounds like very interesting work. Have you checked into the feasibility of having a place like Viewpoint do the modeling? It would probably be costly but heck you're a surgeon! <BG> I believe, I'd use Corel also for tracing. The shaper doesn't cut it for such a task as you can't zoom in on an image. Other than that, I don't know of any solutions. I thought I heard somewhere that MRI could be used to generate 3D data. Would something like that have enough resolution? I really have no idea but it's a thought. Wish I had an Alpha. Like it? Hopefully this fall/winter I'll be able to afford it. Right around the time that R5 ships. Well, good luck. I'd sure be interested in seeing some of your images. BTW, do you have optimize? It could help bring your mesh density down. See ya. DM
#183464From: PETER CASANOAug 3, 1995 5:19 PM
Thanks, I have optimize. MRI's can generate voxel images not meshes, at least not of the structures I'm modeling. and I would use viewpoint but the anatomy is so complex in the sinuses and middle ear that a such great deal of interpretation and artistic liscence is needed that only someone familiar with the structures could make them. I'll be uploading some renderings soon inthe images section.
#183341From: Robert C. RitgerAug 3, 1995 12:27 AM
Peter: Your work sounds very interesting albeit tedious in the modelling stage. Is there a reason why you have not opted for laser scanning to obtain your meshes? – Bob Ritger
#183479From: PETER CASANOAug 3, 1995 7:46 PM
The models are of the internal air spaces between your eyes. Sort of a honeycomb of interconnected spaces each about lima bean size, its called the ethmoid labyrinth for good reason. I don't know anything about laser scanning but doubt it could get inside.
#183511From: Robert C. RitgerAug 3, 1995 11:57 PM
Peter: Perhaps Paul Lind could help out. I'm not sure of the accuracy and resolution of laser scanners but I was under the impression that hundreds of an inch was the ballpark. What you are describing sounds like something measured in angstroms and may indeed be too small to scan accurately. I believe Paul has a scanner that can even create accurate maps to boot. – Bob Ritger
#183552From: Ted BoardmanAug 4, 1995 8:06 AM
>> too small to scan accurately << Are you volunteering to put your labyrinth in the beam?<g> -Ted Boardman
#183589From: Robert C. RitgerAug 4, 1995 11:35 AM
Ted: >> Are you volunteering to put your labyrinth in the beam?<g> << I'm sure I could provide a suitable cadaver, especially after SIGGRAPH. <G> – Bob Ritger