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Skulls Gain Virtual Faces

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the beyond-the-grave dept.

rw2 writes "Totally cool, The guys at Max Planck Institute for Computer Science have developed a way to reconstruct a persons appearence when a skull is found. When police find a skull and want to know what its owner looked like, they generally use artists who reconstruct the face by building up layers of clay over the skull."

3 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Missing details by GreenCrackBaby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While this is a very cool idea, the article was missing a few details. For example, did they try it out on actual skulls and see how close they came to the former owner of that skull?

    This last little bit of the article doesn't exactly sell this new technology:
    ' The current prototype figures suffer a problem common to computer-generated faces, said Evison "They look ridiculously mannequin-like."'

    --

    "The market alone cannot provide sufficient constraints on corporation's penchant to cause harm." -- Joel Bakan
  2. How accurate is it? by Iron+Monkey543 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How do youo know if the person was a bit overweight and had a double chin or big cheeks? I know I looked ALOT different when I gained about 20 pounds and kept it for a few months till I couldn't afford pizza buffets anymore.

    Also, how can a skull help you determine the shape of the person's eyebrows or the shape of their eyes? And they can't use race as a factor because I know alot of caucasians with various eye shapes.

  3. Even genetics isn't going to help you. by Thag · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The person is also going to look much different based on the climate, diet, amount of exercise, probably even occupation and social class to some extent.

    Jon Acheson

    --
    All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.