The Arothron R package is designed to analyse digital models of fossil specimens. By using Arothron, it is possible to investigate the inner morphology of 3D skeletal models, gain a full representation of the original shapes of damaged specimens, and compare shapes across specimens.
To install Arothron from CRAN
install.packages(“Arothron”)
library(Arothron)
Creating and endocast is a challenging task in Virtual Anthropology. This process is time comsuming and prone to error. The function endomaker is basically an automatic tool for digital endocast production. It works by providing a CT-scan derived cranial mesh as the only input
Let’s use a cranial 3D mesh embedded in Arothron
library(rgl)
data(human_skull)
shade3d(human_skull,col=”gray”)
Run the function endomaker
sapendo<-endomaker(human_skull, param1_endo = 1.0, decmesh = 20000, num.cores=NULL)
Plot the 3D model of the modern human endocast
wire3d(sapendo$endocast,col=”violet”)
In addition, endomaker calculates the volume of cranial endocast
ecv<-sapendo$volume
ecv
1356.875