Abstract
In this paper, a digital 3D model which allows for visualisation in three dimensions and interactive manipulation is explored as a tool to help us understand the structural morphology and elucidate the functions of morphological structures of fragile microorganisms which defy live studies. We developed a deformable generic 3D model of haptoral anchor of dactylogyridean monogeneans that can subsequently be deformed into different desired anchor shapes by using direct manipulation deformation technique. We used point primitives to construct the rectangular building blocks to develop our deformable 3D model. Point primitives are manually marked on a 2D illustration of an anchor on a Cartesian graph paper and a set of Cartesian coordinates for each point primitive is manually extracted from the graph paper. A Python script is then written in Blender to construct 3D rectangular building blocks based on the Cartesian coordinates. The rectangular building blocks are stacked on top or by the side of each other following their respective Cartesian coordinates of point primitive. More point primitives are added at the sites in the 3D model where more structural variations are likely to occur, in order to generate complex anchor structures. We used Catmull-Clark subdivision surface modifier to smoothen the surface and edge of the generic 3D model to obtain a smoother and more natural 3D shape and antialiasing option to reduce the jagged edges of the 3D model. This deformable generic 3D model can be deformed into different desired 3D anchor shapes through direct manipulation deformation technique by aligning the vertices (pilot points) of the newly developed deformable generic 3D model onto the 2D illustrations of the desired shapes and moving the vertices until the desire 3D shapes are formed. In this generic 3D model all the vertices present are deployed for displacement during deformation.
Highlights
One of the problems encountered in studying structural and functional morphology of small organisms, in particular parasites such as the monogeneans (Platyhelminthes), is the lack of visualisation in three dimensions
The rectangular building blocks can be stacked on top of each other following the position marked by the Cartesian coordinates of the point primitives until a 3D wireframe similar to the shape of the 2D template is obtained
We have successfully developed a simple deformable generic 3D model for monogenean anchor, which can be deformed into different shapes (Fig. 8) using the direct manipulation deformation method
Summary
One of the problems encountered in studying structural and functional morphology of small organisms, in particular parasites such as the monogeneans (Platyhelminthes), is the lack of visualisation in three dimensions. Images for 3D visualisation can be obtained using hardware such as confocal microscope [1,2], Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) [3], Transmission Electron microscope (TEM) [4], Position Electron Microscopy (PET), micro-ct scan [5] and software such as Amira [6], Bioptonics 3001 OPT [7] and Imaris (for serial histological sections) [8], but these hardware and software are usually expensive. The 3D images generated using hardware can provide information on the structural aspects but most of these images cannot be manipulated to simulate functions since these 3D images are basically static.
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