Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction and History 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Historical Development 4
1.2.1 Physical-Optical Tomography in the 20th Century 4
1.2.2 The CT Revolution 6
1.2.3 Modern Physical-Optical Tomography 7
1.2.4 Other Modern Tomographic Techniques 8
1.2.5 Surface-Based Techniques 9
1.2.6 Historical Summary 10
2 Destructive Tomography 14
2.1 Introduction 14
2.2 Physical-Optical Tomography 16
2.2.1 Approaches to Surface Exposure 16
2.2.2 Approaches to Imaging 19
2.2.3 Other Considerations for Methodology 23
2.2.4 Case Studies of Methodology 27
2.3 Focused Ion Beam Tomography 34
2.3.1 History 34
2.3.2 Principles and Practicalities 34
2.3.3 Examples in Palaeontology 36
2.3.4 Summary 37
3 Non-Destructive Tomography 41
3.1 Introduction 41
3.2 X-Ray Computed Tomography 42
3.2.1 Introduction to CT 42
3.2.2 History 43
3.2.3 X-Rays and Matter 46
3.2.4 X-Ray Microtomography 51
3.2.5 Medical Scanners 61
3.2.6 Lab-Based Nanotomography (Nano-CT) 63
3.2.7 Synchrotron Tomography 66
3.2.8 Tomographic Reconstruction 70
3.2.9 Artefacts 74
3.2.10 Phase-Contrast Tomography 78
3.2.11 Scanning Considerations 82
3.2.12 The Future: Three-Dimensional Elemental Mapping 83
3.2.13 Case Studies of Methodology 85
3.3 Neutron Tomography 89
3.3.1 History 90
3.3.2 Principles and Practicalities 90
3.3.3 Examples in Palaeontology 92
3.3.4 Summary 93
3.4 Magnetic Resonance Imaging 94
3.4.1 History 94
3.4.2 Principles and Practicalities 94
3.4.3 Examples in Palaeontology 96
3.4.4 Summary 97
3.5 Optical Tomography: Serial Focusing 98
3.5.1 History 98
3.5.2 Principles and Practicalities 98
3.5.3 Examples in Palaeontology 101
3.5.4 Other Approaches 102
3.5.5 Summary 103
4 Surface-Based Methods 115
4.1 Introduction 115
4.2 Laser Scanning 116
4.2.1 History 116
4.2.2 Principles and Practicalities 117
4.2.3 Case Studies of Methodology 120
4.3 Photogrammetry 122
4.3.1 History 122
4.3.2 Principles and Practicalities 122
4.3.3 Case Study of Methodology 124
4.4 Mechanical Digitization 125
5 Digital Visualization 130
5.1 Introduction 130
5.2 Reconstructing Tomographic Data 132
5.2.1 Registered Tomographic Datasets 132
5.2.2 Registration 134
5.2.3 Vector Surfacing 135
5.2.4 Volume Reconstructions 137
5.3 Reconstructing Surface Data 142
5.4 Visualization Methodologies 142
5.4.1 Introduction 142
5.4.2 Visualizing Triangle Meshes 143
5.4.3 Direct Volume Rendering 147
5.4.4 Direct Point-Cloud Rendering 148
5.5 Software and Formats 149
5.5.1 Reconstruction and Visualization Software 149
5.5.2 Data Formats and File Formats 152
5.6 Case Studies 155
5.6.1 The Herefordshire Lagerst¤tte (Isosurfacing; SPIERS; Physical-Optical) 155
5.6.2 Caecilian Amphibians (Isosurfacing; Amira; Synchrotron CT) 159
5.6.3 Neoproterozoic Problematica (Vector Surfacing; Scripting; Physical-Optical) 160
6 Applications beyond Visualization 165
6.1 Introduction 165
6.2 Geometric Morphometrics 166
6.3 Dental Microwear Texture Analysis 167
6.4 Biomechanical Modelling 168
6.4.1 Finite-Element Analysis 168
6.4.2 Multibody Dynamics Analysis 171
6.4.3 Body-Size Estimation 172
6.4.4 Computational Fluid Dynamics 173
References 174
Further Reading/Resources 176
7 Summary 177
7.1 Introduction 177
7.2 Summary of Data-Capture Methodologies 178
7.3 Recommendations for Method Selection 182
7.4 Developments and Trends 184
7.5 Concluding Remarks 187
Index 188
