Fig. 3
From: Alpha shapes: determining 3D shape complexity across morphologically diverse structures
Alpha-shapes results for all specimens. a, bacula of outwardly ‘similar’ shape complexity describe similar alpha-shape curves; b, zoomed-in grey region of Fig. 3a. The location at which alpha volume crosses 100% of CT voxel volume is taken at the ‘optimal’ refinement coefficient and used as a metric of overall shape complexity. Mustelids require small values of refinement coefficient to adequately represent their geometry, whereas comparatively ‘simple’ ursid bacula can be described by coarser alpha fits. The point at which all alpha-shapes break down into multiple smaller volumes (*) is consistent for all specimens, suggesting that alpha radii is well scaled to the overall size of the point cloud