molaR (version 0.1)

RFI: Calculate Boyer's (2008) relief index for a surface

Description

A function that calculates relief index following Boyer (2008) Relief index of second mandibular molars is a correlate of diet among prosimian primates and other mammals. J Hum Evol 55:1118-1137 doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.002

Usage

RFI(plyFile)

Arguments

plyFile

An object of classes 'mesh3d' and 'shape3d'

Details

The function requires an object created by reading in a ply file utilizing either the read.ply or the read.AVIZO.ply function, with calculated normals.

Relief index is calculated by the ratio of three-dimensional surface area to two dimensional area on meshes that represent specimen surfaces and have already been pre-smoothed in a 3D data editing program. Alignment of the point cloud will have a large effect on patch orientation and must be done in a 3D data editing program or auto3dgm prior to creating and reading in the ply file. The mesh must be oriented such that the occlusal plane is parallel to the X- and Y-axes and perpendicular to the Z-axis.