Plastic vs Sculptured Reconstruction
Definition
Plastic (two-dimensional) reconstruction draws the face on a photograph or sketch of the skull; sculptured (three-dimensional) reconstruction builds the face physically in clay or digitally in 3D.
- Plastic reconstruction
- Two-dimensional, drawn on a photograph or sketch of the skull
- Sculptured reconstruction
- Three-dimensional, built in clay or digitally
- Common goal
- Approximate facial appearance for identification leads
- Field
- Forensic anthropology and craniofacial identification
Common questions
Why might an investigator choose plastic reconstruction over the more involved sculptured method?+
Plastic reconstruction is faster and needs less specialised material and equipment, making it useful for generating a quick investigative lead, while sculptured reconstruction takes longer but can produce a more lifelike result suitable for public appeals.
Does digital sculptured reconstruction offer any advantage over clay modelling?+
Digital reconstruction allows the tissue depth data and model to be adjusted, measured, and revised without physically remaking the model, and copies can be shared or printed, which clay modelling does not allow as readily.
Related terms
- Anatomical Landmarks
- Fixed cranial reference points (about 25 are used) including glabella, nasion, gonion, gnathion, zygion and prosthion that must align with corresponding soft-tissue...
- AnthropoScope
- Computerised three-dimensional skull and facial reconstruction system using laser scans of the skull and soft-tissue prediction from CT databases.
- FACES
- American computerised composite and reconstruction software (IQ Biometrix) used to generate two-dimensional faces from cranial and witness data.
- Glabella
- The midline prominence on the frontal bone between the superciliary arches. Scored 1 (flat, female) to 5 (highly prominent, male). Correlated with...
- Gonion
- The most posterior and inferior point of the mandibular angle, bilaterally. Used in superimposition to assess the width of the jaw angle...
- Manchester Method
- Three-dimensional facial reconstruction technique developed by Richard Neave at the University of Manchester, building clay muscle by muscle on a skull cast...
- Nasion
- The anatomical landmark at the junction of the nasal bones and the frontal bone (the bridge of the nose). One of the...
- Soft-Tissue Thickness
- Distance from a cranial landmark to the overlying skin surface, measured in millimetres; varies with sex, age, BMI and population, and forms...
- Superimposition
- Overlay technique that matches an unidentified skull with an antemortem photograph of a suspected individual to test anatomical consistency.
- Video Superimposition
- The updated superimposition workflow using a motorised skull turntable, a calibrated video camera, and real-time electronic mixing of the skull video image...