Case study: RapidformRCA and Richard Neave

A new technology in RapidformRCA enabling craft-based skills to be applied in a digital environment has been focused on the reconstruction of one of Britain’s oldest artefacts.

During 2007/8 RapidformRCA successfully launched a new, integrated technology solution. This consists of a package that brings together a state-of-the-art, handheld 3D scanner, associated data clean-up software and, finally, a haptic device with its own bespoke software, for on-screen sculpting of 3D computer images.

The aim was to allow College students and external users of the Rapidform facility with little or no knowledge of 3D CAD to capture found objects digitally and manipulate them using the haptic device – essentially to bring their craft-based skills to bear within a digital environment. The finished pieces could then be realised in physical form by employing one of the many digital manufacturing (DM) technologies available. Over 100 projects of this type have been undertaken this year.

Facial reconstruction
One of the most remarkable applications of the new Rapidform technology was undertaken for Richard Neave, the world’s foremost authority on facial reconstruction. Neave requested that the solution be focused on his latest project – to reconstruct the face of a 40,000 year-old Neolithic woman whose skull was found in 1932 in a barrow in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

‘For a reconstruction to be successfully undertaken’, explains Neave, ‘a copy of the skull must first be reproduced.’ Conventionally, this is achieved by taking a mould of the skull from which a cast is produced. By doing so, however, there is always the chance that the artefact itself could be damaged. What is preferable is that the skull be scanned, a non-invasive procedure, and the data used to produce an exact replica that is then taken through the facial reconstruction process.

This is exactly what was delivered by Rapidform – a replica skull, its form copied in every detail and reproduced in hard acrylic resin on a DM system. The original skull was left unadulterated and intact, a resource for future research.

Once replicated, the skull was then taken through a tripartite facial reconstruction process – one that Neave defined and has continued to refine over many years. First, small holes are drilled into which pegs are inserted. The pegs are of varying length, indicating the differential thickness of the soft tissue of the face. Glass eyes are also inserted at this stage.

Second, using modelling wax, the basic muscle structures of the face are now built onto the skull. Another layer is then added using clay, a layer that represents the skin and the layers of fat immediately below it.

The third stage is the most interesting stage – this is where science blends with art in the final representation of the face. There are many anatomical guidelines as to the shape of the nose in profile; the position and width of the mouth; the angle of the eyes. But, exactly how one determines the vermillion border of the mouth, apex of the nose, creases, moles, pimples, scars and so on, is open to intelligent, artistic interpretation.

The value of Rapidform’s solution demonstrated to Richard Neave that accurate copies could be made in almost any situation – the scanner being brought to the specimen, for example, rather than the other way around. Now he plans further applications for this exciting technology: ‘The true potential for this application will, it is hoped, be put to the test in the very near future when a series of reconstructions are planned in connection with one of the country’s most celebrated historical finds.’