Back in 2011, I conducted and published some research on visualization of cast-off patterns. The main goal was to see what kind of information we could gather by using exactly the same documentation & analysis methods which we use for impact pattern analysis.
With HemoSpat 2.0, I am making this available as an experimental feature for anyone who wants to give feedback on it or to build on it for their own research.
The result of an analysis is an approximate plane of motion which is defined by the scalar equation of plane:
Ax + By +Cz + D = 0
where (A, B, C) is the normal & D is a constant.
This data is included in all the reports and is displayed in the interface for each cast-off pattern like this:
The COLLADA 3D exporter will export cast-off planes as well:
There are a lot of open research questions about working with this cast-off analysis. For example, without changing our documentation & analysis process:
- How accurate is the calculation of the plane of motion? How do we report this?
- What are best practices for stain selection? Are they the same as impact patterns?
- Is there a way to limit these planes even more?
- Is it possible to approximate the arc of the swing?
- Is it possible to approximate the maximum/minimum height of the bloodied object in motion?
- …and more!
My hope is that, by making my experimental analysis available in HemoSpat 2.0, other researchers can build on it in their own research.
Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss any of this research.